


The Torch

by Titch360



Series: My Version of Events [63]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 38,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23424940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titch360/pseuds/Titch360
Summary: It's time to pass the torch.  Will it burn brightly, or sputter and fail?(I was going to put the chorus from the Dropkick Murphy's song The Torch here, but the lyrics don't quite fit the tone of the story.  The title fits, though.)It's going to get angsty and emotional before the end.  You've been warned.
Series: My Version of Events [63]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1339429
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

The Torch

Chapter 1

For a Wednesday afternoon, today was going pretty well. The meeting schedule was light, and some much-needed paperwork could be completed.

Dick Grayson was smiling broadly as he typed up a contract summary. He had his music turned up and was almost ready to take a little break. Dick planned on giving Damian a call on his break. His little brother had seemed depressed in the week since his assignment had ended. Damian would never admit it, but Dick knew Damian had fun going to school and spending a week with Jon. Now that he was back, Damian had grown quieter over the last several days, and the teen’s smile, the one Damian didn’t try to hide as much anymore, had dimmed.

Dick’s intercom buzzed, and Dick wondered how many times his assistant had tried to call him before he noticed the attempt. Dick picked up his phone and asked, “What’s up, Phil?”

Phil, Dick’s assistant, sighed over the line, “Several things, sir. First, can you please turn down the Beyonce? The people out here really aren’t interested if anyone put a ring on it.”

Dick smiled, “Not until you stop calling me ‘sir’. We’ve talked about that.”

“Yes, sir, we have,” Phil said, “This is a professional office building; one you could be running in a few years.”

Dick shook his head, “Nope, doesn’t interest me. I’m fine right where I am. Damian can have it.”

Phil smiled at the thought of Dick’s youngest brother. Dick actually had more pictures of Damian on his desk than Bruce did.

Dick took a breath as he turned his music down a bit, “Okay, what else you got?”

“A reminder that the summary for the latest Starr Labs contract is due by Friday,” Phil said.

Dick nodded, “I’m working on it now. Just putting the finishing touches on it. I’ll have it to you to do whatever you do with it in an hour.”

“Very good, sir,” Phil said, “Last thing, you have a call on line two.”

“Who is it, Phil,” Dick asked as he started typing again.

“He said his name is Steven Anderson.”

Dick shook his head, “Who’s that?”

“Don’t know,” Phil said, “I checked your schedule and contacts. I couldn’t find the name anywhere.”

Dick released a breath, “Take a message. I want to get this done. Tell him I’m in a meeting and I’ll call him back in an hour.”

“Okay, Mr. Grayson,” Phil said.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Dick,” Dick asked.

Phil smiled, “I like my job. I can’t call my boss a dick.”

“You can if it’s his name,” Dick said, wondering how many times he’d had this exchange with his assistant.

“Alright, I’ll take a message,” Phil said, “I’ll message you the information.”

“Thanks, Phil,” Dick said, hanging up his phone.

_One Hour Later…_

Dick stretched as he emailed the contract summary to his assistant. He then pulled up Phil’s message and read it over.

_Steven Anderson. I can’t say I know that name. Hmm, Phil didn’t get a company name. It would make looking this guy up a little easier if I had more than a name and phone number. It’s not a local number, either. Not that that means anything. Oh well, I guess I have to do this the old fashioned way._

Dick dialed the listed number and waited three rings before a male voice came over the line. The connection wasn’t great, and the occasional burst of static assaulted Dick’s ears, but the man was easy enough to hear.

“Hello?”

“Hello,” Dick said, “May I speak with Mr. Anderson, please?”

“This is Steven Anderson.”

“This is Dick Grayson, returning your call.”

Steven took a sharp breath, “Oh, hi. I didn’t know if you’d call me back or not.”

“Is this a bad time,” Dick asked, “You sound a little rushed.”

“Yes, it’s a bad time,” Steven said, “but it won’t get any better anytime soon, so we might as well get this over with.”

“Do you want me to call back at another time,” Dick asked.

“No,” Steven said, “Like I said, time won’t make this any easier. I was asked to reach out to you by Mr. H. He said to ask if you could come to see him.”

Dick was confused, “Mr. H? I’m sorry, I don’t know who that is.”

“Sorry,” Steven said, “I’m jumping ahead. It’s been, like, twenty years. I shouldn’t be surprised that you don’t know who I am. Mr. H is Cornelius Haly.”

A flood of memories hit Dick hard as he gasped deeply, “Pop Haly asked to see me? Is something wrong?”

“I guess I should have started with that,” Steven said, “Mr. Haly had a heart attack yesterday. He’s stable now, but he asked to see you.”

Dick was having a hard time breathing at the announcement. _Pop had a heart attack? This can’t be happening. He’s always been bigger than life. Steven’s right, though. It’s been over twenty years since I’ve seen Pop. I haven’t even talked to him in three years…four, no, almost five years. Wow, that just makes this worse. He had a heart attack, and his first thought was to get in touch with me. I do everything I’ve done, and I’ve basically forgotten about him._

“Are you still there, Mr. Grayson?”

Dick shook himself out of his increasingly guilty thoughts, “I’m here. Steven Anderson. I’m sorry, I remember you now. Are you still The Amazing Andersons?”

“Mom and Dad retired a few years ago,” Steven said, “My brothers and their families are still doing it. I had to stop about ten years ago, after an accident.”

Dick cringed, “I’m sorry. Was it a fall?”

“No,” Steven said, “Packing up after a show, I broke my arm after one of the animal cages broke loose. It never healed right; at least, not well enough for me to get back on the trapeze. I’ve been helping Mr. Haly with operations since then.”

“I see,” Dick said with a nod, “Thank you for doing that. So, is Pop in a hospital, or is he out?”

Steven took a deep breath, “He’s in critical condition. He’s stable for now, and keeps saying he’ll be back before we pull out of town. However, the doctor asked if Mr. Haly’s affairs are in order.”

Dick gasped again, “Is it really that bad?”

“I think so,” Steven said softly, “He’s always been strong, but he’s eighty-four years old. Circus life isn’t easy on the young. He isn’t young anymore.”

_I didn’t realize he was that old,_ Dick thought. “Where are you guys?”

Steven said, “He’s in Logan Memorial Hospital in Kentucky. We’re staying a little to the east, just west of Middleton.”

Dick took a deep breath, “I’ll be there tomorrow. Is this the best number to get in touch with you?”

“It is,” Steven said, “Thank you, Mr. Grayson. That will make Mr. H happy.”

“Good,” Dick said, “and Steven, call me Dick.”

“Okay, Dick. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow.”

Dick hung up the phone, no longer feeling like the thirty-two year old junior executive of a fortune 500 company. He was transported back to the eight-year old boy who had his whole world upended around him, sending him on a roller coaster of emotions that led to his current life. The thought of Pop Haly, still being in charge of the circus, putting on shows for all those happy families, had been a rock for him. Something hadn’t changed, even though everything else had. Dick hadn’t prepared himself, hadn’t _wanted_ to prepare himself, for the eventuality of Pop Haly being gone.

Thinking about the circus without Pop Haly was like thinking about Wayne Manor without Alfred. It felt wrong, and it made Dick sick to his stomach.

Swallowing hard, Dick wandered into his outer office. He stopped next to his assistant’s desk, looking lost.

“Are you alright, Mr. Grayson,” Phil asked gently.

Dick blinked a couple times, looking like he was waking up from a trance, “Phil, Consuela is on vacation this week, right?”

“Yeah,” the assistant said, “She’ll be back next Tuesday.”

Dick nodded absently, “I guess that leaves Loretta in charge. I have to go take care of some personal stuff. I’ll be gone for a week or two.”

“Is everything okay, Mr. Grayson?”

Dick looked down, “No, it isn’t. That call earlier was from a guy at my old home. The guy who was basically my grandfather is in the hospital. It…it doesn’t look good.”

Phil released a breath, “I’m sorry, Boss. Go. I’ll take care of everything here. I’ll let Loretta know she’s in charge until Consuela gets back.”

“Thanks, Phil,” Dick said, heading for the elevator, “I need to talk to Bruce.”

_Upstairs…_

“Are you okay, Dick?”

Dick looked up and realized he had no idea how long ago the elevator door had opened. Jean, Bruce’s long-time secretary, had left her desk and was standing in front of the distracted man.

Dick shook his head, more to clear his mind than answer her question, “No, I’m not.”

Dick stepped out of the elevator and said, “I just got a call. Pop Haly is in the hospital.”

Jean gasped, “From your circus? Oh, Dick. I’m sorry.”

_Figures she would remember him._ “Yeah, him. I’m going to go out and see him. I need to talk to Bruce. Can I go in?”

Jean checked her computer and said, “It looks like he’s on the phone right now, but it isn’t a meeting. He doesn’t have another meeting until four.”

Dick nodded, then accepted a short hug from the woman, “Thanks, Jean.”

Dick walked quietly into Bruce’s office. Bruce looked up and waved Dick over. He continued speaking to his speakerphone. “I’m not sure I’m understanding what you’re asking for here, Lex.”

The bald, Metropolis businessman’s voice sounded over the line, “Last year, I rolled out a project to aid schools. We developed a product that we call the Lexpad.”

Bruce snorted, “And you named it after yourself?”

Dick could head the other man roll his eyes, “We _are_ Lexcorp, after all. Anyway, it’s a device to combine all school materials into one system. The students no longer have to carry textbooks. They won’t forget their homework, because it’s all done on the device. Updates can be sent straight to teachers or parents without students losing them.”

“I’ve heard of it,” Bruce said.

The line was quiet for a heartbeat longer than a normal conversation pause, “Is your kid using one?”

Bruce smiled, “No. From what I read from your press releases; they aren’t being used in colleges. My son graduated from high school a year ago.”

“Oh,” Lex said, “Good for him. Since you’re familiar with the project, I’ll get right down to it. Students are students. They’re rough on their things. We promised same day IT support and repair or replacement in our contracts with the school districts. I want to get local hires to complete some of this work. Until I can get my own techs in place, I want to contract with your tech department to provide some of our on-site tech work.”

“What do you mean by ‘on-site’,” Bruce asked.

“If the pads break, we provide in-person, same day repair or replacement,” Lex said, “We built the pads to be tough, and to take a beating, but kids can find ways to break anything. I want to contract with Wayne Enterprises to provide those services until I can get more permanent techs in place.”

“You’ve been running this program for about six months now, right,” Bruce asked.

“Roughly,” Lex said, giving an unseen nod.

Bruce tried to hide his chuckle, “And you didn’t put your IT support in place before rolling out the program?”

“I did, actually,” Lex said, “but need has outstripped available resources. My techs are running from call to call, almost around the clock.”

“I just don’t know if my tech department is set up for something like this,” Bruce said, “I’ll look into it and get back to you.”

“Thank you, Bruce,” Lex said. “Listen, I sent a sample Lexpad over for you, along with units for your techs to examine. They should have arrived today.”

Bruce shook his head, “I haven’t gotten my mail yet today. I’ll ask my secretary if it has come in yet.”

“Good. Thanks, Bruce. Please, let me know as soon as possible if you can help me with this. If it works out, maybe we can contract with you, instead of hiring outside techs.”

“I’ll let you know in a couple days, Lex.”

Bruce ended the call and leaned back in his chair, staring at Dick. “I don’t think we should tell Damian about that call. What do you think?”

“No, probably not,” Dick said distractedly.

“We had no way of knowing that Damian’s whole mission would become unnecessary just a week after completion.” Bruce eyed his oldest son and asked, “What’s up, Chum? You look off.”

Dick swallowed, “I got a call a little bit ago. Dad, Pop Haly is in the hospital. He had a heart attack.”

Bruce’s eyes widened, and he walked around his desk. Dick stood and was engulfed by his father in a tight hug. Several minutes passed in silence before Bruce led them over to the couch.

The duo sat down, and Bruce said softly, “Talk to me, son.”

Dick looked down, but instantly started talking, “I never wanted to think something like this could happen. Pop was always…larger than life. He’s supposed to just…live forever. I feel so bad. I haven’t talked to him in years, and his first thought when he woke up in the hospital was of me.”

“What did he say,” Bruce asked.

Dick shook his head, “He didn’t call; it was someone from the circus. Pop seems to think he’ll be okay and back on the road in a couple days. According to the person I talked to, the doctor is asking if all of Pop’s final arrangements are in place.”

Bruce took a breath, “Oh, god. Dick, I’m sorry. Can we do anything?”

“He asked to see me,” Dick said in a weak voice, “I’m going, but I don’t think I can handle it on my own. Could…could you come with me?”

Bruce sighed, “I don’t think I’m the right person to take on this trip, Pal. If you really need me to go with you, I will, but I think this should be more of a trip for you and your brothers.”

Dick glanced over, “Why?”

“If nothing else, it will give them a glimpse into your past,” Bruce said. “I’ve seen that. They haven’t.”

Dick looked down again, “I shouldn’t have asked. You can’t get away right now, anyway. Quarterly meetings start next week.”

“How long do you think you’ll be gone,” Bruce asked.

Dick shrugged, “A week or two, I guess. I can’t take my brothers, though. They just got home.”

Bruce gave a small smirk, “That’s the best part. They’re probably still packed.”

Dick cocked his head, not recognizing Bruce’s attempt to lighten the mood in the room. “You know Alfred better than that. Packed suitcases don’t even touch the floor at home before Alfred gets them unpacked.”

“Right,” Bruce said, “What was I thinking?”

“Who should I take,” Dick asked, “I know I can’t handle this on my own, but I can’t be looking out for them while I’m visiting Pop.”

“Why do you think you’ll have to supervise them,” Bruce asked.

Dick leaned back, “Jason will be the most understanding, but he’s never wanted to hear about my past at the circus. I tried talking to him about it lots of times, but he actively won’t hear it. He used to walk out of the room when I tried talking to him about it.”

“If I remember correctly,” Bruce said, “the last time you tried, Jason was fifteen. He’s changed a lot since then.”

Dick continued, “Tim would be the most patient, but he is terrified of hospitals. I won’t make him sit there while we possibly watch Pop,” Dick swallowed hard before he could get the word out, “…die.”

“There is that,” Bruce said, nodding.

“Damian is…Damian,” Dick said, “He’ll force himself to try to be there for me, but…he’s Damian.”

“I think he might surprise you,” Bruce said, “I think they all will. If they all have one thing in common, it’s an extremely territorial love of you.”

“So, who do I take,” Dick asked again.

Bruce shrugged, “Take them all. I’ll make it okay.”

“Are you sure,” Dick asked.

“You’re always there for your brothers,” Bruce said, “Give them a chance. They’ll be there for you. Listen, I’ll call Alfred and have him get you plane tickets. Do you think you’ll need a hotel?”

Dick shook his head, “We’ll stay with the circus. We’ll need a rental car, though. An SUV should be good.”

Bruce nodded, “Okay. Can you make it home on your own, or do you want me to have Alfred come pick you up?”

Dick took a breath, then said, “I’ll drive myself. We’re giving him enough to do today without having to drive down here. I…I have my assistant setting up arrangements for coverage for me while I’m gone. The department should be okay.”

Bruce and Dick stood, and Bruce grabbed Dick’s shoulder, “You know, you are usually the one telling everyone to have faith in Damian. Why are you thinking he’s going to be a problem?”

Dick sighed, “He’s grown a lot, but he is still fifteen years old. He’s still self-centered. I’m not going to be in any position or condition to give him reminders of why we’re there.”

“Then, hand that job off to Tim,” Bruce said, “You’ve got enough to worry about, and Damian will listen to Tim.”

Dick nodded, “That should work. I should go.”

Bruce hugged his oldest son tightly, “I’m so sorry, Chum. Try to relax a bit before your flight. I’ll call Alfred and have him make your arrangements.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Dick said softly before walking out of the office.

_Stately Wayne Manor…_

Dick walked into the house from the garage slowly, his mind obviously elsewhere. It was a wonder he hadn’t crashed on the way home. He was driving off of muscle memory, not watching where he was going.

Again, not watching, Dick wandered into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen island. He stared into the pattern in the marble countertop, thinking about hundreds of small memories of Pop Haly, and his short time growing up at Haly’s Circus. For as much as Dick used to cherish these memories, he still had a hard time believing they happened to him.

In the last decade, his time with his birth parents at the circus had lost prominence in his mind. It was just hitting Dick again how much he had lost as an eight-year old, and how much he was in danger of losing now.

“Master Dick, I didn’t hear you come in.”

Dick looked up slowly, and the tears dripping from his eyes were as much of a surprise to him as to Alfred.

“I’ve forgotten them, Alfred,” Dick said in a tearful voice.

Alfred stared compassionately at the lost-looking man in front of him, “Nonsense, young sir. Life goes on. You continue to grow.”

Dick took a gasping breath, “But how am I supposed to know where I’m going when I forgot where I came from? I will always love Bruce, and I thank him daily for what he’s done for me, and the family he gave me, but I have… _had_ another family.”

“A family that lives on in you,” Alfred said gently.

Dick looked down again, “I haven’t been to visit my parent’s grave in over a year. I haven’t talked to Pop Haly in almost five years. When Steven called from the circus to tell me about Pop, I didn’t even remember who Steven was.”

“You can’t be faulted for not remembering someone you met once, twenty years ago,” Alfred said.

“The people who should have been the most important people in my life have been forgotten and replaced,” Dick said, with not a little angst and anger directed at himself.

“Hardly, Master Dick,” Alfred said, laying a hand on Dick’s shoulder, “If they had been replaced so easily, you would now be known as ‘Richard Wayne’, and you wouldn’t have even taken the call from the circus.”

Dick sniffled as another pang of guilt stabbed through him, “I _didn’t_ take the call from the circus. I let my assistant take a message, and called them back later. When it was convenient for me.”

“Because you were working,” Alfred said, “You were responsibly doing your job.”

“And if it had been you on the phone, Alfred,” Dick said, “I would have dropped everything to talk to you.”

“If it had been Mr. Haly on the phone, instead of another person, you would have dropped everything to speak with him, as well,” Alfred pointed out.

Dick took a deep breath, “Yeah, you’re right. What am I going to do, Alfred?”

Alfred patted Dick’s shoulder, “You are going to go upstairs and pack a bag. Then, you are going to rest. Your flight leaves at five tomorrow morning. Your rental car will be waiting for you. Are you sure you don’t want hotel accommodations?”

Dick shook his head, “No, I want to be near the circus, in case we’re needed. I know Steven said Pop is looking forward to getting out on the road, but I don’t know if that will be possible.”

Tim came running into the house from the garage, saw Dick and Alfred in the kitchen, and quickly changed his direction of travel.

“Dick, I’m sorry I’m late. I’ll go pack. I’ll be ready to go in ten minutes.”

Dick gave his first smile since he got the bad news, “Relax, Timmy. Our flight isn’t until tomorrow morning.”

Tim heaved a sigh, “Oh, good. It’s going to take me a while to find my passport.”

“We’re flying to Kentucky,” Dick said, “You don’t need one.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Tim said.

“You boys should still go pack, just to be ready,” Alfred said, “It will be an early night for all of you.”

Dick patted Tim’s arm, “Come on, you can help me tell Damian.”

“Master Dick,” Alfred called, “Master Damian is not upstairs. He is out back, doing chores.”

Dick nodded, “Well, when he comes in, send him up.”

The back door opened, catching everyone’s attention. Damian walked in, and was confused by the extra people in the house.

“What’s going on? Isn’t it a little early for you two to be home from work?”

“There you are, Little D,” Dick said, “Come on, let’s go pack.”

“Pack,” Damian asked.

“Master Dick, your brother has not been informed of events,” Alfred said.

“Oh, right,” Dick said, “Come on, Damian. We’ll explain everything.”

Damian took his boots off and left them at the back door, then followed his brothers upstairs. Dick and Tim both recoiled away as Damian walked between them.

“I hate to tell you this, Little D,” Dick said, “but you need a shower. Bad.”

“I know,” Damian said, looking like he was trying not to breathe the air around himself, “I spent the last three and a half hours cleaning out Batcow’s stables. He’s, um…healthy.”

“Did you fall in,” Tim asked, trying to not breathe through his nose.

Damian looked down at himself, “Smells that way. Look, can whatever you have to tell me wait until after I shower…a couple times?”

“I think we’d prefer it that way,” Dick said. “Go. De-stench-ify yourself.”

“Thanks,” Damian said, jogging ahead to his room.

Dick and Tim walked into Dick’s room, and Dick began pulling clothes out of his closet while Tim sat cross-legged on the bed.

“Damian just got home last Friday,” Tim said, “Do you really think he’s going to want to go with you?”

Dick stuck his head out of the closet, “You just got home, too, and your trip wasn’t just stepping through a Zeta Tube.”

Tim looked down, “You know what I mean. You know how Damian gets when he’s away from Bruce for extended periods of time. Do you have any idea how long we’ll be in Kentucky?”

Tim could hear Dick sigh, “I know. That’s probably my biggest concern with taking Damian on this trip. He’s going to need more attention the longer we’re away, and I won’t be in a position to give it to him. He’s only been home for a little over a week. I know he’s not full up on attention yet. Bruce said I should ask you if you can take that over for me.”

Tim nodded instantly, “Of course. Anything you need, Dick.”

Dick looked around his closet and said, mostly to himself, “I need new boots. I thought I had a pair. Can’t show up to the circus in loafers.”

“What was that,” Tim asked.

“Nothing,” Dick called from the closet, “Just putting together a shopping list of things I’ll need to pick up before we go.”

Tim nodded, “That probably isn’t a bad idea. I don’t think I have circus-appropriate attire.”

Dick stuck his head out of the closet and said, “Circus worker attire. Not circus attendee attire.”

“What’s the difference,” Tim asked.

“Stuff you don’t mind getting dirty or destroyed,” Dick said, “We can’t stay with them and not expect to be put to work.”

“Hmm,” Tim said, “Then, we need to expand our shopping list. I’m not sacrificing my good sweats for this.”

Dick gave a small chuckle as he walked out of the closet with an armload of clothes. He dropped them on the bed next to Tim. Tim looked at the pile of clothes and asked, “How much are you taking, if we’re still going shopping later?”

Dick smiled, “I only need boots, and maybe another pair of jeans. I don’t need a full wardrobe, like you do.”

Tim nodded, “Maybe I should go see what I actually need.”

Tim left Dick’s room to head to his own, but stopped and turned around when Damian walked out of his own bedroom to head to Dick’s.

Tim returned to the eldest’s bedroom a second after Damian, who was asking, “What’s going on, Dick? Are you moving out?”

“He’s running away to join the circus,” Tim said from behind Damian.

Dick walked out of the closet and approached Damian. He sniffed Damian’s head, then smiled, “That’s much better. Now you smell like Head and Shoulders, instead of Cow and Stables.”

Damian shook his head, “I love my cow, but this is a hell of a downside. What’s going on?”

“Tim’s right, I’m running away to the circus,” Dick said.

Damian nodded slowly, “I always knew this day would come.”

“I’m not going alone,” Dick said, “I’m hijacking our bevy of young Bats and Birds. You’re all coming with me.”

“Why,” Damian asked.

Dick sighed as he sat down on the edge of the bed and grabbed Damian’s hands, “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, but please think about it. I have to go, and I know I can’t handle this trip on my own. I’m going to Kentucky. That’s where my circus currently is. Mr. Haly, the guy who runs the circus, is in the hospital. He, um…it doesn’t look good. He asked to see me, and I can’t not go.”

Damian looked like he was deep in thought, “You said Mr. Haly is…was…your…” Damian looked up with wide eyes as the stories Dick would tell him of his time with the circus made sense now, “How can we help you?”

“Really, Damian,” Dick asked hopefully.

Damian nodded, “You want us with you, right? We’re here for you.”

Tim smiled as Dick hugged Damian, “Thanks, Little D.”

“Are you sure you want Tim along,” Damian asked, “We’re going to a hospital, right?”

“Don’t worry about me, Damian,” Tim said, “I can handle it.”

“It’s a circus, too,” Dick said, “When we aren’t at the hospital, we’ll be with the circus. If you’re really coming, you’ll need clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty, or messed up. Pretty much what you were wearing to muck out the stalls.”

Damian looked at Dick strangely, “I’m not wearing those clothes again until they’ve been fumigated.”

Dick smiled, “I didn’t mean those same exact clothes, just something similar. Something you’d be okay getting rid of if something happened.”

“What’s going to happen,” Damian asked nervously.

Dick shrugged, “Who knows? It’s a circus. There are large animals, and all sorts of things you don’t find in Gotham.”

Damian thought for a handful of seconds before saying, “I’ve never been to a circus before.”

“So, you’ll come,” Dick asked.

“I told you I would earlier,” Damian said.

Dick smiled, “Thanks. Pack a bag, we leave in the morning. Early, though. Alfred said our flight leaves at five.”

“Five AM,” Damian asked warily.

“Hey, you said you wanted to go,” Tim said with a laugh.

“How long will we be gone,” Damian asked.

“A week, I think,” Dick said.

“Did I overhear that you’re taking Tim shopping for new clothes?”

Dick smiled, “Did you want to come with?”

Damian nodded, “I could probably use a few things. The clothes I wore earlier to clean out the stables were Tim’s.”

Tim started in shock, “You what? No wonder I never have any clothes.”

Damian smirked at Tim, “It’s not my fault that I’m growing faster than you. This is easier than replacing my whole wardrobe every few months.”

“Easier for who,” Tim asked, “You growing into my clothes means I have to replace _my_ wardrobe.”

“Buy something I’m going to want to wear in a few months,” Damian said.

Dick’s smile grew, “I hate to tell you this, Damian, but I think Tim’s pretty much done growing.”

Damian looked Tim up and down. At fifteen, Damian was only two inches shorter than Tim, who was twenty-three.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Tim,” Damian said.

Tim sighed as Dick stifled a giggle, “My parents were kind of short. I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m going to wind up the shortest one around here.”

Dick chuckled, and Tim snapped, “Hey! He’s going to be taller than you someday, too.”

“I know,” Dick said, grabbing both of his brothers and walking out of the room, “Come on, let’s hit the stores.”

In the hall, outside of Dick’s room, the brothers nearly ran into Alfred. The butler held out Damian’s boots. “Master Damian, I believe you will need these for your trip.”

Damian’s jaw dropped a bit at the condition of the footwear. They looked like they had just been taken out of the retail box, instead of looking like they had just taken a trip through a cow pasture. “Alfred, you’re a miracle worker. I was just going to consider these a loss and have Dick buy me a new pair. Thank you.”

Alfred smiled, “It was nothing, sir. Nothing some cleanser and a garden hose couldn’t fix.”

“Thank you, Alfred,” Damian said, leaving the group to take the boots to his room.

Alfred turned to the older boys, “Did I hear that a shopping trip is upcoming?”

Dick nodded, “It seems that Damian is the only one of us who has a pair of boots.”

“Yeah, and he’s been stealing my clothes,” Tim grumbled.

“We need things we can wear to a circus, instead of a board room,” Dick said.

“I can make the trip for you, if you would like,” Alfred said.

Dick smiled at the butler, “Thank you, Alfred, but I think getting out for a bit will be good for me. I’m feeling better now. My brothers have been able to cheer me up, like they always do. We’ll just take a quick trip to Target.”

“Very well, Master Dick,” Alfred said.

Dick, Tim, and Damian headed for the stairs, and stopped at the crest of the staircase, watching Jason climb up to the residence wing.

Jason looked up as he felt himself being watched, and said, “What’s going on, Golden Boy? Bruce sent me home to check on you.”

Dick turned to Tim and asked, “Can you pull a car out of the garage for the four of us, Tim?”

Tim nodded, “Sure, Dick.”

Jason eyed Damian and said, “Go with him, Squirt, or I’ll make you run laps.”

Damian rolled his eyes, “It’s been a week and a half, Todd. I’m not a student anymore, and you aren’t a teacher. Not that you could really have been called a teacher on my mission.”

“Scram, Midget,” Jason said with a smirk.

Damian walked past Jason, “I’m going, Rent-A-Cop.”

Jason kicked at Damian’s back, but the teen was out of range before the assault was launched.

“Missed me,” Damian taunted from the bottom of the stairs.

Jason turned and glared, “This time.”

Jason turned back to Dick, who asked, “Can you two just get along, please?”

Jason smiled, “What are you talking about? We _are_ getting along. I’d be sitting on him and punching him in the face right now, if we weren’t. So, what’s going on? Why are we here in the middle of a work day, and why is Bruce worried about you?”

Dick took a seat on the stairs, “I got a call today. Pop Haly is in the hospital. He doesn’t have long left, and we asked to see me. We’re going to Kentucky, to meet up with the circus”

Jason swallowed, “I’m sorry, Dick. Did you want me to go with you?”

Dick nodded, “All three of you are coming with me. We leave early tomorrow morning. Are you and Damian going to be able to get along?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, “We’ll get along.”

Dick popped back to his feet, “Good. Get changed and meet us in the car. We’re going shopping.”

_Later…_

“All of these pants are too large, Dick,” Damian complained as he put yet another pair back on the display.

Jason snorted, “That’s because these are men’s pants. The boy’s section is over there.”

Damian blushed at the thought of having to get his clothes from the children’s section.

Dick walked over, looked at the display, and put a hand on Damian’s shoulder, “Why are you looking at these?”

“Jason said this was the right section for pants,” Damian said, “I’ve never been to this store before.”

Dick shot a glare at Jason, who was covering his mouth to try to keep from laughing. Dick shook his head with a sigh, “Damian, this is the Big and Tall section. You are neither Big nor Tall.”

Jason couldn’t hold his laugh anymore, and caught glares from both Dick and Damian.

“Don’t you know what size you wear, Damian,” Dick asked.

Damian shrugged, “Alfred picks out my clothes when we go shopping. I just try them on.”

Dick led Damian away from the rack of clothes he had been searching, “Well, you definitely won’t find something your size over here. Let’s go over to where Tim is. I think we proved earlier that you are closer to his size.”

Dick stepped around behind Damian, grabbed the back of Damian’s pants, and pulled. “What the hell,” Damian exclaimed as he turned and slapped Dick’s hands away, “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to read the tag, to find out what size you are,” Dick said.

“Looks like a twenty-six, extra shrimpy to me,” Jason said.

Dick kept a firm grasp on the back of Damian’s pants, to keep him from trying to attack Jason. Damian just growled, but didn’t make an attempt on Jason’s life.

“Come on,” Dick said, “Pull your pants down, so I can see the tag.”

“I’m not pulling my pants down in the middle of a store,” Damian said.

Dick looked around, “No one’s going to see you. We’re in the middle of the racks. I promise, no one will see.”

Damian looked up and pointed at the black bubble concealing a security camera in the ceiling, directly over their heads. “No one will see, huh?”

Dick shook his head, “Fine. Use the dressing room, then.”

Damian walked over to the dressing room, and had to stop Dick from following him inside. “I can read a tag, Dick.”

“Okay,” Dick said, “I’ll just wait here, then.”

Damian emerged from the dressing room a minute later and looked up at Dick, “Thirty, thirty-two.”

Dick smiled, “Definitely a size not to be found in the Big and Tall section.”

“Damn, you’re skinny,” Jason said.

Dick spoke quickly, to take Damian’s mind off of Jason’s comment, “Are those yours?”

Damian smirked, “They are now.”

“So, those are Tim’s,” Dick said with a small sigh, “Are they too loose or too long?”

Damian looked down at his legs, then said, “They’re okay.”

Dick turned Damian around and said, “Have Tim help you find something in both of your size. Go on.”

Damian shrugged and walked off. Dick sighed, blocking Jason’s path, “I swear, Jason. What is it with you two? Is it the Talia connection? Do you not like the smell of his cologne? Do you still not like sharing Bruce with anyone? Why do you constantly need to push him?”

Jason looked down and spoke softly, and Dick could tell that what was coming was just for him, “He reminds me of me. He reminds me of what I was, and what I became, and what I could have become, and what I wanted to be, and what I never wanted to be.”

“So, why treat him the way you do,” Dick asked.

Jason smirked, “What would happen if I was nice to him?”

“He would be nice back,” Dick said.

Jason winked, “Or, would he be suspicious?”

Dick eyed his brother for a second, “What are you planning, Little Wing?”

“What makes you think I’m planning something?” Jason’s tone wasn’t nearly as innocent as he tried to make it sound.

“Because you’re smirking,” Dick said flatly.

Jason’s smirk grew, “Yes, I am, aren’t I.”

Damian walked past Dick and Jason, carrying an armload of clothes to the dressing room. “Oh, look. Clothes my size,” Damian said to Jason sarcastically, “And they _weren’t_ in the children’s section.”

Damian brushed past Jason, who called after the boy, “Because no one has ever misfiled anything before? How much attention do you think someone making minimum wage actually pays to their job?”

Damian stuck his head out of the dressing room and said, “I don’t know. How much attention do you pay at work? I know Father isn’t wasting more than minimum wage on you.”

Damian pulled his head back into the dressing room, and Jason turned to look at Dick with a smile, “And now, we’re back to normal.”

Dick shook his head as Tim approached, “I don’t understand you two.”

“All set,” Tim asked.

Dick shook his head, “I still need a couple pairs of jeans and a pair of boots.”

Jason slapped Dick’s back, “Well, hurry up, already.”

Dick hurried off to get to the shoes as Tim looked through the clothes in his arms. He looked up at Jason and asked, “Do you think it will be cold in Kentucky?”

Jason looked at Tim strangely, “How should I know? I’ve never been to Kentucky before.”

Tim thought for a second, then said, “I better grab a sweatshirt, too.”

Tim walked back to the clothing racks as Damian walked out of the dressing room, “These all fit. What else do you think I need?”

“Why are you asking me,” Jason said.

“Because you’re standing there,” Damian said.

“Go ask Dick,” Jason said, “He’s over in shoes, trying on high heels, or something.”

Damian walked away while rolling his eyes. He stopped next to Tim and asked, “What crawled up Todd’s ass? It’s like he’s trying to be extra annoying today.”

“I noticed that, too,” Tim said as he pulled a hooded sweatshirt over his head to try it on. Tim looked at Damian and said, “I noticed you’re controlling yourself, and not being as annoying as you could be.”

Damian released a breath, “Dick doesn’t need that right now. He’s feeling bad enough, without having to deal with us. Jason isn’t helping anything.”

Tim nodded, “Dick is feeling bad, you’re right. I’ll tell you something he doesn’t want you to know. Dick is concerned about bringing you on this trip. He won’t say it, because he loves you too much and doesn’t want to hurt you, but Dick is worried that you are going to get needy and annoying, and he won’t be in a position to give you the attention he thinks you’ll need. He’s asked me to watch you.”

Damian looked down and spoke softly, “He doesn’t need to be worrying about that now. I should be the last thing on his mind.”

“But, you’re not,” Tim said, “because he loves you. I think, out of all of us, he’s most worried about how you’ll react to seeing where and how he grew up.”

Damian turned his head, “Why?”

“The three of us grew up dirt poor,” Jason said, walking up behind his younger brothers, “Not ‘we had to get rid of the servants’ poor. I’m talking ‘I wonder if the scraps of food in that dumpster won’t make me too sick’ poor. You might have seen examples of poverty in your life, but you’ve never experienced it.”

Damian eyed Jason silently, considering what was said. Tim watched them nervously, wondering if he was going to have to step in.

Damian finally said, “You’re right. I’ve been very lucky.”

“He doesn’t want this to change how you think of him,” Tim said.

Damian took a breath, “We’re going to take care of a sick family member. That’s all we need to be worrying about. Our feelings are secondary.”

“I’m glad you understand that,” Jason said.

Dick walked up to the trio holding a shoebox, and asked, “Are we all ready?”

Tim looked around before asking, “Where’s the cart? I just need to make sure I have everything.”

“Behind you, Replacement,” Jason said, rolling his eyes.

Tim pawed through the basket, then said, “I’m all set.”

“Damian,” Dick asked.

Damian tossed his armful of clothes into the basket and said, “I’m ready.”

“Jay, you good?”

Jason nodded, “I’m good.”

Dick smiled, “Then, let’s go.”

The brothers walked up to the front of the store to check out, and Jason forced them into the line of a pretty, young, brunette cashier. The other three watched the obvious look on Jason’s face as he stared at the employee while they waited their turn.

“Good afternoon, guys,” the cashier; Melody, according to her name tag; said. “New clothes time, huh? Did you find everything you were looking for today?”

Dick smiled at the young woman, “Hi. Yes, we got everything we needed today. Just getting ready for a little family trip.”

Melody looked around at the four men and said, “Good looking family you have here.”

Jason smiled softly and said, “Well, we try. Thank you.”

Jason had picked up just as many of the charm lessons from watching Bruce as they all had, and he was working them overtime right now. Damian looked at Tim, who rolled his eyes. Even a blind man could tell that Jason was trying to flirt with the cashier.

“Family trip,” Melody asked as she continued scanning items from the full basket, “Somewhere fun, I hope.”

“Going to visit some family out of state,” Dick said obliquely.

Damian winked up at Tim, then stepped between Dick and Jason, wrapping an arm around both of their waists. “My daddies promised to take us to a circus while we’re there. I’ve never been to a circus before.”

Melody froze for a second before glancing at the enthusiastic smile on Damian’s face, then back and forth between Dick and Jason. “Daddies?”

Jason glared sharply down at Damian, “Daddy?!?”

Tim was turning red with the effort to not laugh.

Dick was having the same problem, but picked up Damian’s ball and ran with it. He trailed a hand down Jason’s arm seductively and said, “I know the adoption hasn’t been finalized yet, Honey, but this is a good sign. He’s finally warming up to us. Remember how long that took with Little Timmy?”

Tim patted Jason’s shoulder and looked up at the man with a warm smile, “The family counseling really helped, Pops.”

Melody quickly finished bagging their purchases, and Dick paid quickly, knowing an epic eruption was imminent. “Thanks, Melody.”

“Enjoy your trip, guys,” Melody said as Dick ushered his brothers out of the store.

Once in the parking lot, Dick doubled over in laughter as Tim said, in a mock-announcer’s voice, “Tune in next week for the continuing adventures of Captain Cockblock!”

“You are fucking dead, Demon Spawn,” Jason growled dangerously.

Damian stood his ground and scoffed, “Oh, please. What did you think you were going to get out of that? A date? She had to be closer to my age than yours. The only thing you were going to get was a restraining order.”

“Just wait until we get home,” Jason said, “You’re not going on this trip, because I’m breaking your neck tonight.”

“No, you’re not,” Dick said firmly, “You’re going to calm down and realize that this was a joke, and you’re going to understand that Damian did this as a way to try to cheer me up. It worked. I’m feeling better now. I need all of your help with that.”

“A joke, huh,” Jason grumbled, stalking across the parking lot to the car. “You want a joke? I’ll give you a joke.”

Jason got into the car and started the engine. Dick pulled on the door handle, but it was locked.

Dick knocked on the window and asked, “Can you unlock the door?”

“NO,” Jason snapped before speeding out of the parking spot and leaving a trail of burnt rubber in his wake as he left his brothers behind.

Dick sighed, “Your joke was funnier, Damian.”

Dick pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. It was answered by a very concerned-sounding Bruce. “Hey, Chum. How are you feeling?”

Dick shrugged, “A little abandoned, right now.”

“What’s going on,” Bruce asked, “Don’t you want to be around the boys right now?”

“Are you leaving work soon,” Dick asked.

“Actually, I was just about to leave,” Bruce said.

Dick nodded, “Good. Can you come pick me up?”

Bruce sighed sadly, “I thought you might need more time than you took for yourself. Sure, Chum. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

Dick smiled, “Good. Um, what car did you drive today?”

_Why does that matter,_ Bruce thought. “The Range Rover. Why?”

“Great, that’ll be big enough,” Dick said, “Bruce, I’m not nearly as sad as you’re thinking I am. We needed some stuff for our trip, so we went shopping. Well, we played a little prank on Jason, and…he left us here. Can you come pick us up from the Target by the Gotham Plaza Mall?”

Bruce released the nervous breath he had been holding and shook his head at his son’s antics. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

_Ten Minutes Later…_

Bruce pulled up outside of the Target store to find three of his sons standing in a line outside of the store, smiling suspiciously. Bruce rolled down the passenger window and sighed as he said, “Just…get in.”

Damian and Tim put their bags in the back of the SUV before climbing into the back seat. Dick sat up front, next to Bruce.

Bruce shook his head as they waited at a stoplight, waiting to leave the mall. “What did you do, Damian,” Bruce asked.

“What,” the teen exclaimed, “Why do you automatically assume I did something?”

“Because you piss off Jason better than anyone,” Bruce said.

Damian pointed at Tim, “So does he!”

Tim patted Damian’s shoulder, “Just tell him, Damian. It’s worth hearing again. That was honestly hilarious.”

“You’re going to love this, Bruce,” Dick said, “Go ahead, Damian.”

Damian rolled his eyes, “Todd was flirting with the cashier. He was…quite focused on her. She was talking about our purchases, and Dick told her that we’re going out of state. She asked if we were going to do something fun. I told her that they were taking me to my first circus.”

“Who is they,” Bruce asked.

Damian’s smile grew, “My two daddies.”

Bruce looked over at Dick, who was nodding and laughing hysterically.

Tim was wiping at his eyes as he laughed, “Oh, man. I thought Jason was going to explode when you started playing along, Dick.”

“I had to,” Dick said, “It was just too perfect a set up.”

“No wonder he ran off,” Bruce said, poorly hiding his laugh, “How do you know that dating this cashier wouldn’t have been good for Jason?”

“She was closer to my age than his, Father,” Damian said.

Bruce smiled, “So, how do you know that wouldn’t have been good for Jason?”

“That’s just wrong, Father,” Damian said.

Tim shook his head and said, “You might not know this, Damian, but you’re in the minority. You’re the only one in the family who goes for older women. The rest of us have always gone for same age or younger. Now, saying that, even I would have been uncomfortable asking her out, Bruce. She was that young.”

“Well, now I know why he was mad,” Bruce said, “What did he do to bring this on?”

Damian’s look grew stony, “I’d never been to this store before. I asked Jason to show me where the pants were.”

“Yes,” Bruce said dryly, “A very understandable trigger.”

Dick shook his head, “Jason took him to the Big and Tall section. When nothing fit your Small and Slim son, Jason told him to check the children’s section for something closer to his size.”

Bruce nodded, knowing how much Damian hated being seen as a child, “Okay, becoming clearer.”

“It was a prank for a prank, Father.”

“And you really think Jason will leave it at that,” Bruce asked.

“He’s right,” Tim said sagely, “You’re screwed. It’s a good thing you’re going to Alaska for Robin’s birthday, instead of her coming out here. Jason would plot something to try to break you two up.”

Damian looked shocked and scared at the thought. “What did I do,” Damian whispered.

Dick turned back to look at Damian, “You made me laugh, and cheered me up when I needed it. Jason can be unhappy and embarrassed, but I’ll defend you on this. Jason will get over it.”

“We’ll find out,” Bruce said, “That’s him behind us.”

Damian turned around in his seat to look out of the back of the car, then turned back as Bruce slowed down for a red light. “You don’t have to stop for this light, do you, Father?”

“You’re safe until we get back to the house, Damian,” Bruce said, “Once we get there, you’re on your own.”

Damian thought Bruce’s tone sounded a little ominous as he slouched down in his seat.

Damian stuck to Dick’s shadow once they returned to the Manor. Jason sent dangerous looks at the teen, but didn’t try anything.

At least, not until the next morning.

With a five o’clock flight to make, the brothers had to arrive at the airport no later than four to check in. With the hour-long trip across town to the airport, the family had to wake up by two-thirty to have adequate time to prepare.

Jason stood next to Damian’s bed, watching the teen sleep, thinking of all the wonderfully nasty things he could do to the slumbering boy. He settled on one, and used it to wake Damian. Jason reached down and gently lifted Alfred the Cat from the bed and repositioned him. Jason held the cat over Damian’s head, maybe two feet over Damian’s face.

The feline gave a soft mewl before Jason dropped him.

Damian awoke with a shout as nine pounds of fur and claws landed on his face. Damian sat bolt upright and looked around for a second as the cat scampered off.

“What was that for, Alfred,” Damian grumbled as he rubbed at his cheek.

“Get up,” Jason said flatly.

Damian jumped and gasped at the voice in the darkness. “What are you doing, Todd,” Damian asked, trying to quell his surging fight or flight reflex.

“If we’re going to make the plane, you need to get up,” Jason said, enjoying his ability to still scare his youngest brother.

“I set an alarm for two-thirty,” Damian grumbled.

“Well, you need extra time to get ready,” Jason said, heading for the door.

“Why,” Damian asked.

Jason smirked, and it came through in his voice, “Because you’re bleeding. Now, we’re even.”

Damian released a breath, “Really? You should be thanking me. You weren’t going to get a date yesterday. She had to be younger than Tim.”

“I don’t interfere with _your_ girlfriend,” Jason said.

“One, this cashier was a complete stranger, not your girlfriend. Two, I was born in the same decade as my girlfriend, unlike you and this girl. Three, why are you mad at me? If you’re going to be mad at anyone, it should be Dick. You could have played off what I said as a joke, until he took it that next step and called you Honey.”

Jason’s eyes widened, “Wait, he called me _Honey?”_

Damian smiled, “And you didn’t react to it, making that cashier think it was a title you hear all the time. Why don’t you spread some of this retribution around, instead of focusing on me? Anyway, Dick said that joke cheered him up, which he needed. If we can lift Dick’s spirits even a little right now through a little joke, then we should suck it up, for him.”

That argument seemed to calm Jason down a bit. He released a breath through his nose and said, “For Dick. Any other time, I’d find a bone you haven’t broken yet and break it. For now, get up and get ready to go.”

Damian smiled as he crawled to the side of his bed, “Yes, Daddy.”

Jason turned and stabbed a finger in Damian’s direction, “That stops now!”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Jason’s lip curled in a snarl, “You want to keep calling me Daddy, I’ll beat you like a red-headed step-child.”

“If I remember correctly,” Dick said, walking up behind Jason, “You had red hair when I first met you.”

Damian eyed Jason strangely as Dick turned on his bedroom light, “You had red hair? What happened?”

“I died,” Jason said harshly, “A…a lot changed. Yes, I used to have red hair. I used to be left-handed, too. Any other smart-ass remarks you want to make?”

Damian thought for a second, “I’ll come up with something later.”

“I’ll have a fist waiting,” Jason said, walking out of the room.

Dick turned to Damian and said, “Hurry up, Little D. I want to stop at…did you try shaving with a regular razor again?”

“What,” Damian asked, confused at the question. “No. Why do you ask?”

“Your face is all scratched up,” Dick said.

“Oh,” Damian said, feeling his cheek, “That’s just how Jason decided to wake me up.”

“With a cheese grater,” Dick asked with a smile.

Damian shook his head, “With my cat.”

“Did you make Alfred angry,” Dick asked.

“No,” Damian grumbled, “Jason dropped him on my face. He said this made us even for calling him Daddy yesterday.”

Dick gave a short, quiet chuckle, “Well, get dressed. We need to leave soon.”

**A/N: In case you're wondering, this story starts a week and a half after chapter five of School Days.**

**Howdy, everyone. I hope you are all staying safe and virus-free. My job got transitioned to work from home during all of this. I’m thankful that my job is on the essential services list. I thought I’d have more time to write, but I find that I’m actually busier working from home than I was working in the office. That’s why this is chapter one, instead of the whole story. My plan was, originally, to have this part of the story completed in one long chapter. Now, it’s looking like I’m going to split it into three. Chapter two needs to be typed up and edited, but it is already written. I will start writing chapter three soon, and it will probably be the same length as chapters one and two combined. This one is going to get a little angsty, so I hope you’re all ready.**

**My biggest advice in this time of uncertainty is to keep calm. We’ll all get through this if we use just a little common sense. Oh, and forget social distancing. Practice anti-social distancing. Forget that six-foot space crap. Ten to twenty feet is a much safer distance. Six feet doesn’t do much for you when the molecules and droplets in your standard uncovered sneeze can easily travel ten feet. Just stay the hell away from people. We’ll all be better off for it.**

**I hope this chapter can help alleviate the quarantine blues. Let me know what you think so far.**

**Thanks for playing along.**


	2. 2

The Torch

Chapter 2

Almost an hour after leaving Stately Wayne Manor, but still long before dawn, Dick parked the car in the long-term parking lot at Gotham International Airport.

Walking towards the terminal, Tim asked, “Why didn’t we have someone drive us, instead of leaving a car here for a week?”

“I was not going to ask Alfred to get up this early,” Dick said, “Bruce would have, but he only got home from patrol an hour or so before we got up to leave.”

“How do you know that,” Jason asked.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” Dick said, “I heard him when he went to bed.”

Jason snatched the keys from Dick and asked, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It’s a little late to take the keys now,” Damian said, “We’re already here. I think he’ll sleep at least once before we have to drive home.”

Tim snickered a laugh. Jason opened his mouth, but couldn’t comment.

The brothers entered the terminal and headed for the security check. While waiting to pass through security, Tim nudged Jason and said, “The TSA lady is pretty. Did you want to flirt with her, too? She’s closer to your age.”

Jason rolled his eyes and growled, “If we weren’t under video surveillance, I would deck you, right here and now.”

“Okay, Daddy,” Tim said with a smirk.

“Damian,” Jason growled slowly.

“Did I say anything,” Damian protested.

“Enough,” Dick said, “You can fight once we get to Kentucky. We’re next for security.”

Three hours later, the Wayne boys stepped out of the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, looking for the rental car counter.

Jason looked around as he stretched, “Never been to Kentucky before.”

“Me, neither,” Tim yawned.

Dick smiled, “The circus came here every year. Not to the airport, of course, but to the state.”

“What about you, Squirt,” Jason asked with a smirk, “You ever kill anyone in Kentucky?”

Damian’s eyes narrowed at his older brother, “Not yet, but the day is still young.”

“Now, now,” Dick said, “He hasn’t been here, either, and he’s not going to kill anyone.”

“Yes, I have,” Damian said.

Dick turned to stare intently into Damian’s eyes, “You are _not_ going to kill anyone on this trip.”

Damian shook his head, “No, not that. I’ve been to Kentucky before. Remember that business trip I took with Father a couple years ago? Our second to last stop was in Kentucky. Wayne Enterprises has an Aerospace component manufacturing facility in the northern part of the state.”

“Didn’t know that,” Tim said.

“How long were you here,” Dick asked.

Damian thought for a second, “I don’t know, maybe four or five hours.”

“Okay,” Dick said nodding, “Hey, there’s the rental car place. Let’s see what Alfred rented for us.”

The boys found a Chevrolet Tahoe waiting for them. Dick had spent most of the flight hoping Alfred didn’t try to rent them some sort of luxury vehicle. The last thing Dick wanted was the circus thinking he was trying to show off the wealth he could inherit one day. This vehicle seemed to be a good compromise, and Dick didn’t think it would be too conspicuous at the circus.

Dick frowned as he saw that their first stop needed to be a gas station. Once the tank had been brimmed, Dick headed for the highway.

“Where are we headed first,” Tim asked.

“Logan Memorial Hospital,” Dick said, “It’s an hour or two south of here.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive,” Jason asked, “You didn’t exactly get any sleep on the plane.”

“I got an hour,” Dick said, staring at the road, “I’ll be fine.”

One hour and forty minutes later, Dick parked in the parking lot of Logan Memorial Hospital.

“Let’s go,” Dick said flatly.

Tim had noticed that Dick’s mood had dropped significantly since they arrived in Kentucky. He was obviously preparing himself for anything.

“Damian, get your head out of your phone,” Jason snapped from the front seat.

Damian didn’t lift his head, “Yeah, give me a second.”

“You can text your girlfriend later,” Jason said.

Damian looked up, “I’m texting Father, to let him know we’re here.”

Jason stopped his next remark, then said, “Oh. I didn’t think about doing that.”

The brothers got out of the car and headed for the front lobby. Damian said quietly to Jason, “Father asked Dick to text him when we landed. Dick obviously had other things on his mind.”

Jason nodded, “Right. Sorry about that.”

Dick walked up to the front desk and tried to smile at the woman behind the desk. The receptionist looked around at the small group and said, “Good morning. How can I help you?”

“Good morning,” Dick said, in a voice that suggested otherwise, “I’m here to visit Cornelius Haly.”

The woman typed the name into her computer and said, “He’s in our Cardiac ICU right now. I’m afraid visitation is restricted to immediate family only.”

“I’m his grandson,” Dick said immediately, “I’m the only family he has left.”

“And these gentlemen,” the woman asked, glancing at Dick’s brothers.

“My adopted brothers,” Dick said.

The woman looked at the two youngest and said, “All visitors to the ICU must be sixteen or older.”

“I’m twenty-three,” Tim said with a smile.

“I’m sixteen,” Damian said, lying through his teeth.

The woman looked doubtful, but wrote out the visitor passes. “Lisa here will escort you to the Cardiac ICU. You’re going to have to wait until nine to see him, though. Seven to nine everyday are set aside for rounds. It’s only about twenty minutes.”

“Thank you,” Dick said with a nod.

The boys followed the candy striper through the hospital until they were deposited in a waiting room. The candy striper informed the nurse’s station who the boys were there to see before leaving again. Jason, Tim, and Damian all sat down around a table, but Dick continued to pace impatiently around the room.

Jason’s eyes followed Dick around the room before he said softly, “It’s a good thing he bought new shoes before the trip. Looks like he’s going to wear those out.”

“He’s worried,” Tim said.

“Well, yeah,” Jason said sarcastically.

Jason glanced at Damian and said, “This isn’t picking on you, but don’t be rude when we go in.”

Damian shook his head, “I won’t say a word, because I’m not going in.”

“Didn’t I just tell you not to be rude,” Jason asked.

Damian rolled his eyes, “Whenever Robin comes over, you all let us be alone for a while. At the most, Robin and I won’t have seen each other for a few months. Dick hasn’t seen Mr. Haly in twenty years. Don’t you think they deserve some time alone?”

“I never thought of that,” Tim said thoughtfully, “To tell you the truth, I’m not too eager to go in their either.”

“If he wants someone to go in there with him,” Damian said, “It should be you, Jason.”

Jason took a deep breath, “No, you’re right. Dick can introduce us later. He should make the first visit alone.”

“You really think so?”

The brothers looked up to see Dick standing next to the table. They had no idea how much of their conversation Dick had heard.

Tim nodded, “The hospital probably doesn’t want all of us in the room at one time, anyway. Why don’t you feel it out first?”

Dick grasped Tim’s shoulder, “Are you okay? I know you don’t like hospitals.”

Tim took a breath, “I’m okay, for now.”

A nurse approached the men and said, “Excuse me. You’re here to see Cornelius Haly, right?”

Dick turned around nervously, “Yes. Did something happen?”

The nurse shook her head, “No. You can go in now. Do you know where his room is?”

“No, I don’t,” Dick said, “Can you show me, please?”

“Of course,” the nurse said, “He’s in room six, right this way. Follow me, please.”

Dick followed the nurse to the room. When they got there, she asked, “Where’s everyone else?”

“We don’t want to overwhelm him,” Dick said, “We didn’t know your visitor policy, either. We decided to start small.”

The nurse smirked softly, “Thank you for that. Most families try to push everyone into these rooms, all at once. I think Mr. Haly is still asleep, so go in quietly.”

“Thank you,” Dick said, walking slowly into the room.

Dick gasped quietly as he saw the hospital bed, and the sleeping man lying on it.

_He looks so small,_ Dick thought. _How is this the same man I grew up with? How much weight did he lose because of this condition? Or, did he stay the same size? Am I the one who grew? It’s been twenty years. Maybe he stayed the same size. Maybe I’m the one who grew. I was tiny when I was with the circus, and Pop Haly always looked ten feet tall. Now that I look again, he is still fat. That gray hair suits him. A few more wrinkles than I remember, but Steven did say that he is eighty-four. When I think about it that way, it’s amazing that he’s spent as long on the road as he has._

Dick pulled up a stool and sat next to the bed, watching the elderly man sleep. He didn’t want to wake him up. As long as Pop Haly slept, Dick didn’t have to face the fact that the man was a lot closer to death than Dick ever wanted to picture him.

Mr. Haly snorted in his sleep before opening an eye a fraction of an inch. “Did you forget something, Doctor?”

Dick inhaled sharply. _I’ve missed that voice. I didn’t realize how much until just now._ Dick spoke softly, “I’m not a doctor. Sorry to wake you, Pop.”

Mr. Haly opened his eye a bit wider, and said softly, “Johnny. You’re the spitting image of my Johnny. That means…you came, Dickie.”

Dick sniffled. _That’s the first time I’ve ever been compared to my father. I wonder how much I actually look like him._ “Of course, I came. I should have come to visit years ago. I’m so sorry, Pop.”

Mr. Haly shook his head, “Don’t apologize. You’re here now, and that’s what matters. How are you, my boy?”

Dick gave a small smile, “I’m wishing we were meeting anywhere but here.”

“So am I,” Mr. Haly said, “but we’re here, so tell me all about your life.”

Mr. Haly pressed a button that raised the head of the bed, allowing him to sit up.

Dick shook his head, “A lot has happened in the last twenty years.”

“I know,” Mr. Haly said, “You got big.”

“Um, I’m still living with Bruce.”

“Not out on your own,” Mr. Haly asked, “Or with a family of your own?”

“I tried it for a while,” Dick said, shaking his head, “Found out I belong with Bruce.”

“Please tell me it isn’t just the two of you,” Mr. Haly said, “That’s a lonely way to live.”

A real smile crossed Dick’s face this time, “No, our life is full of people.”

“And yet, you’re here alone,” Mr. Haly pointed out.

Dick shook his head again, “I’m not. I have three brothers, and they’re all in the waiting room. They wanted to give us time to catch up.”

Mr. Haly smiled, “I’d like to meet them.”

“You will,” Dick said, “but, later. Oh, speaking of family of my own, I’m engaged. Her name is Barbara.”

Dick pulled his phone from his pocket and showed a picture of the redhead.

“Beautiful,” Mr. Haly said, “Why isn’t she here?”

Dick’s eyes widened as he realized something important. “This all happened so fast. I didn’t have time to call her. I’ll have to do that later. Anyway, you can’t see it in this picture, but Barbara is paralyzed from the waist down. She really hates trying to get on and off of planes with her wheelchair.”

“Oh my, what happened?”

“She was shot in the back during a home invasion robbery,” Dick said, “She’s stronger than a bullet, though. You’ll be invited to the wedding, once we set a date.”

Mr. Haly smiled and took Dick’s hand, “I’d like to see that. Tell me more. Are you successful? Are you doing more that just living off of Mr. Wayne’s money?”

Dick cocked his head in thought, “Well, yes and no. I still live with Bruce, but I’m not idle. I’m the head of Contracting for Wayne Enterprises, Bruce’s company. Depending on when he retires, I might become the CEO.”

“Why wouldn’t you become the CEO,” Mr. Haly asked.

Dick’s smile warmed up a bit, “My youngest brother is Bruce’s actual son; not adopted, like the rest of us. I think Bruce wants to work until Damian can take over, which I’m completely fine with. I like what I’m doing. If Bruce wants to retire early, I’ll serve as interim CEO until Damian is ready.”

“How old is this Damian,” Mr. Haly asked, liking seeing a smile on Dick’s face.

“He’s fifteen,” Dick said before glancing at the door. He lowered his voice and said, “but, if there are nurses around, then he’s sixteen. They said all visitors to this area have to be sixteen.”

The pair fell silent for a minute, until Dick sighed and asked, “What happened, Pop? How did we end up here, like this?”

Mr. Haly matched the sigh and said, “I’m an old man, Dickie, and you know that the circus life is a hard life. I should have retired ten years ago, but I was worried about the future of the circus.”

“You didn’t have to worry about that,” Dick said, “Bruce is still subsidizing the circus. As long as I’m alive, Haly’s Circus will run.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that, Dickie, because I really asked if you could come out here so I could adjust my will.”

Dick gasped, “What do you mean, Pop?”

Mr. Haly leaned a little closer to Dick, “You’ve been named in my will as my sole beneficiary since you were three years old. I think, if I get out of this hospital, it’s time for me to retire. That means, it’s time to pass on the circus. Before you start getting nervous and uncomfortable, I know you aren’t going to give up your life to return to the circus. I wouldn’t ask that of you. You have a beautiful life now. Whether it happens now or after my death, the circus is yours, to do with as you want.”

Dick sniffled, “It won’t be the same without you.”

Mr. Haly reached out and pulled Dick into a hug, “Don’t cry, Dickie. This was always going to happen.”

“I can’t help it,” Dick sobbed.

Mr. Haly held Dick for close to two minutes before whispering in the man’s ear, “It’s okay. Everything will work out how it’s supposed to. Don’t feel sorry for me. I’ve lived a long, wonderful life, and I have no regrets. I’m happy, and you need to be happy, too.”

Dick hugged the man a little tighter as his tears stopped, “I will, Pop. I’ll do my best, for you.”

Mr. Haly sat back and met Dick’s eyes, “Don’t you dare, young man. You do your best for you, not for me. You don’t have to impress me. I couldn’t be prouder of you if I tried.”

“Thanks, Pop,” Dick said, wiping his eyes.

Mr. Haly looked around and asked, “Now, we have a lot to discuss. Where is Steven? He said he’d be back this morning.”

“There wasn’t anyone else in the lobby when we got here.” Dick smirked, “Knowing my brothers, if Steven _is_ here, they’re probably sitting on him to keep him from coming in here, to give us time alone.”

Mr. Haly gave a laugh that warmed Dick’s heart, “I’d like to meet these brothers of yours.”

Dick nodded, “I guess it’s about time you got to meet them. I’ll bring them in one at a time.”

Mr. Haly nodded, “I think I can handle that.”

Dick got up and left the room. Returning to the lobby, Dick was confronted by his joke come to life. His three younger brothers sat glaring intently at an obviously frightened young man.

Dick sighed and shook his head, “You must be Steven.”

The man looked up, “Mr. Grayson?”

Dick walked up and shook the man’s hand, “Call me Dick. They weren’t too mean to you, were they?”

Steven glanced at the brothers, “They’re, um, quite protective of you.”

“They’re the best brothers in the world,” Dick said, “Once you get to know them.”

Dick turned and walked over to his brothers, “Stand down, will you? This is a hospital, after all. He’s here to help us out.”

Dick turned and walked back over to Steven, “Please, Steven, give us some time. Pop wants to meet my brothers, then we’ll go in and talk.”

Steven nodded, “That sounds okay. How is he doing today?”

Dick shrugged, “I think he feels better that I actually came. He’s sitting up and talking.”

“That’s good,” Steven said, “That means he’s getting his energy back. Just let me know when you’re ready.”

“Thanks, Steven,” Dick said before turning and clapping a hand on Tim’s shoulder, “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Tim’s eyes widened, “Me?”

“You don’t like hospitals,” Dick said, “We can get you in and out. Then, you don’t have to come back on future visits.”

“Well, okay,” Tim said, getting up and following Dick back to the hospital room.

Jason nudged Damian and asked, “You’re not jealous that Dick picked Tim first, are you?”

“Are you,” Damian asked back, “I was prepared for Dick to introduce us by age. I’m sure I’ll go last, no matter what. I’m fine with it.”

_Meanwhile…_

Tim was clearly nervous as they approached the recovery room. Dick didn’t need to see the hesitant look on Tim’s face to sense his mood.

“It’ll be okay, Timmy. He just wants to meet my brothers. He wants to make sure that I’m well taken care of.”

Tim looked over, “He’s met Bruce. He should know you’ve been taken care of.”

Dick smiled as they stopped outside of the room, “He has met Bruce, but he’s never met you.”

Dick threw an arm around Tim’s shoulders to drag him into the hospital room. Tim was almost shaking as he entered the space, but stilled before they came into view of the patient.

“Pop,” Dick asked, making sure the man knew they were there, “Pop, this is my middle brother, Tim.”

Mr. Haly waved the men over with a smile, “Tim, it’s nice to meet you.”

Tim forced a smile, “It’s nice to meet you, too, Mr. Haly.”

Mr. Haly eyed the younger man, “There’s no need to look so nervous. I don’t bite.”

Tim gave a nervous laugh as Dick said, “He’s not afraid of you, Pop. Tim doesn’t like hospitals.”

“Neither do I, young man,” Mr. Haly said, “This is my first time in one.”

“I stay away as much as possible,” Tim said quietly.

Dick forced Tim into a chair, then stood behind the young man and leaned forward, resting his hands on Tim’s shoulders.

Mr. Haly eyed Tim for a second before saying, “I can see that you don’t want to talk about why you don’t like hospitals, so I’ll just ask how long you’ve been with Mr. Wayne.”

Tim thought for a second, “Well, I was thirteen when Bruce took me in, so just about ten years now.”

Dick gave a warm smile, and squeezed Tim’s shoulders, “Tell him how you first met Bruce, Timmy. You won’t believe this, Pop.”

Tim looked up, “I can’t tell him _that_. I mean, does he _know?_ ”

Dick thought for a second, then walked over and closed the door of the hospital room. Kneeling next to the bed, Dick asked softly, “Have you kept track of any Gotham news over the past twenty years, Pop?”

“I look every now and then,” Pop said, “When the circus is close to Gotham City. A lot of strange things go on in that city.”

“Anything specifically strange stand out to you, Pop,” Dick asked carefully.

“Lots of crime in Gotham City,” Mr. Haly said, “You would think more people would try to fight back; to take back the streets. You can’t do it all, Dickie.”

Dick eyed the man, “Me? What am I doing?”

“Richard John Grayson, didn’t I teach you to not beat around the bush,” Mr. Haly asked, “I know you too well. I know you’re this Bat Man that the news talks about. Why hasn’t anyone in Gotham City figured it out?”

Dick shook his head with a smile, “I’m not Batman, Pop. At least, not anymore. I tried it for a while.”

Mr. Haly gave a smile, “Did you, my boy? So, does that mean that Mr. Wayne is Batman, then?”

Tim looked distinctly nervous, but Dick’s smile grew, “Please, don’t say that too loud, or too often. My future in-laws don’t even know that yet.”

Tim shifted in his chair, and Mr. Haly called him on it. “What’s the matter, Timothy? If I cared about what you guys do at night, I would have called Mr. Wayne on it years ago. Who am I going to tell?”

“He’s family, Tim,” Dick said, nudging the younger man, “You can trust him.”

“I guess,” Tim said.

Mr. Haly smiled, “Good. Now, tell me this story that Dickie seems to think is so funny.”

Tim shrugged, “Well, like you said, you don’t know how no one has figured out that Bruce is…who he is. The thing is, I did figure it out, when I was nine. Like you said, it was obvious; at least, to me. I refined my theory and gathered evidence for three years before confronting Bruce. I snuck into his office and pretended to interview him for a school project in order to present my evidence. He denied everything, of course, but I apparently stuck in his mind. He kept track of me. A few months later, after my Mom died, Bruce offered me a home.”

“That was nice of him,” Mr. Haly said with a soft smile.

Tim’s smile was a little sharper, “He wanted to make sure I didn’t spill his secret to the highest bidder. Still, he didn’t have to take me in or adopt me. I’ll always be grateful to him for doing that.”

Mr. Haly looked up at Dick, “Did Mr. Wayne adopt you too, Dickie?”

“He tried,” Dick said, “The court wouldn’t approve an adoption at the time. You know, a single, young man, adopting a young boy out of nowhere. It looked suspicious at the time. I don’t think Bruce ever got over the hurt of all the questions and suspicions that have been thrown his way. He’s only been interested in providing us a good home. He’s my legal guardian.”

Mr. Haly smiled, “I’m glad you’re happy, my boy, and I’m glad you weren’t alone.”

Dick sighed, “That was a distinct possibility after my parents died. I’m glad everything worked out.”

Mr. Haly looked at Tim, “It was nice to meet Dick’s brother, Tim. I can tell that you’re uncomfortable being here, so I won’t keep you here any longer.”

Tim gave a genuine smile, “It was nice to finally meet the man Dick has told so many stories about. I hope you feel better soon, sir.”

“I’m feeling pretty good now,” Mr. Haly said as Tim stood up.

“Can you make it back to the waiting room on your own, Timmy,” Dick asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Tim said.

“Send Jason back,” Dick called at Tim’s back as the younger man left the room.

Dick turned back to Mr. Haly and smiled, “He would have been far more talkative if you were meeting anywhere other than here.”

Mr. Haly nodded, “I understand. What was it that traumatized him?”

Dick spoke softly, “He watched his mother die in a hospital, while the doctors told him every day that they couldn’t do anything for her. It was a slow illness, and his mother was his last remaining family. He had nowhere else to go after she died.”

Mr. Haly cringed, “I’m glad I didn’t ask him that. I know your story, and now his. Do any of you have happy stories?”

Dick shook his head, “No. If we did, we wouldn’t have ended up with Bruce. Our stories are getting better, though.”

Jason wandered into the hospital room with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. He looked like the essence of casual, but Dick could see through Jason’s façade, and knew that his younger brother was nervous.

“Jay, there you are. Come here. Pop Haly, this is Jason. Jason, Pop Haly.”

“Hello, Jason,” Mr. Haly said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Jason leaned against the chair and said, “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Haly.”

Dick eyed Jason, “What’s this? No sarcasm? No annoyance?”

Jason barely hid his sigh, “Not today, Dick.”

Dick smiled and wrapped an arm around Jason’s back, “Jason was the first one who taught me what it’s like to have an extended family. My first brother.”

Mr. Haly smiled, “That is a wonderful feeling, Dickie, and I’m glad you got that feeling. I can’t tell you how much I miss my brother.”

Dick looked in shock at Pop, “Brother? I never knew you had a brother.”

“That’s because he died a long time ago,” Mr. Haly said, “You never met him. Your parents never met him. He was never with the circus. He died in Vietnam.”

Dick looked down, “I’m sorry, Pop.”

Mr. Haly gave a small smile, “I’ve had a long time to get over it. Enjoy your time with your brothers, Dickie. It can be over all too soon.”

Dick squeezed Jason’s arm, “I know, Pop. I know.”

The room fell silent for a minute before Mr. Haly asked, “So, what do you to, Jason?”

“I’m assistant head of security for Wayne Enterprises,” Jason said.

Mr. Haly looked at Dick, “Do you all work for Mr. Wayne?”

Jason smirked, “What’s the use of having a rich, powerful business owner take you in if you can’t take him in? Job security is a wonderful thing.”

Mr. Haly chuckled, “You have such interesting brothers, Dickie.”

“I’m the interesting one,” Jason said, “Tim’s the boring one, and Damian is the annoying one.”

“Which one is Dickie,” Mr. Haly asked.

Jason glanced at Dick and said, “He’s the glue. We would have all killed each other by now if he wasn’t around.”

Dick hugged Jason, “Aww, thanks Little Brother.”

“We should get these introductions done quickly,” Jason said, “That circus guy is getting nervous.”

Dick rolled his eyes, “What did you and Damian do to him?”

“We didn’t touch him,” Jason said with a large smile.

Dick sighed, “Damian is sitting in the waiting room, glaring at him, isn’t he?”

“A little,” Jason said.

Dick shook his head, “And why is he doing that?”

“Tim told him the guy is here to audit your inheritance,” Jason said with a laugh.

“Tim told him that, or you did,” Dick demanded.

Jason couldn’t answer, with how hard he was laughing, but he did raise his hand to take credit for the joke. The only reason Dick didn’t snap at Jason was the smile the interaction brought to Mr. Haly’s face.

“Come on, Jason. Let’s go save Steven’s life.”

“It was nice to meet you, Jason,” Mr. Haly said.

“Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Haly,” Jason said as Dick dragged him out of the hospital room.

Dick and Jason returned to the waiting room to find Damian staring intently at Steven, who looked nervous and ready to pass out.

Dick leaned down and whispered in Damian’s ear, “Jason lied to you. That is our contact from the circus, not an IRS auditor.”

Damian’s eyes widened as he looked up at Dick. He then glanced over at Jason, who nodded with a large smile.

“It’s a good thing we’re in a hospital, Todd,” Damian growled, “You’re going to need a doctor very soon.”

Dick grabbed Damian’s arm and dragged him out of the waiting room, saying, “It’s just a joke, Little Brother. Let it go.”

Dick got Damian into the hallway. Once out of sight of Jason, Damian started to calm down.

The teen grumbled, “Why does he like doing that to me? Now, I have to apologize to that guy.”

“Why do you keep falling for it,” Dick asked, “Sometimes, you’re too gullible, Damian.”

“Father says I’m supposed to trust all of you,” Damian said, “Why do you all go out of your way to abuse my trust?”

Dick looked down at Damian’s face at that comment. The teen’s eyes were just a bit wider than normal, and the occasional quiver of his jaw was meant to convey hurt sadness.

Dick didn’t buy it for a second.

“Come on, Damian, it’s not that bad. It’s just Jason’s way of bonding with you.”

Damian released a fake, shuddering breath, “I guess so.”

Dick stopped the teen outside of Mr. Haly’s room and said, “Okay, here we are. Now, there are two things I want you to know before we go in. One, Pop Haly said he’s feeling pretty good, but he’s still recovering. He’s still weak. If he says he’s had enough or he’s tired, we’ll leave him to rest.”

“Of course,” Damian said, nodding.

“Second,” Dick said, bending down to stare into Damian’s eyes, “That was a terrible performance. You can do better than that, if you’re trying to get sympathy or get Jason in trouble. Did you really think I’d buy that? You can pull that with Bruce, but I know better.”

Damian dropped the look and gave a sharp smirk, “It was worth a try. Todd deserves to get into trouble every now and then. I can’t be the only one in the house who has to follow the rules.”

“You’re not,” Dick said, then continued before Damian could comment, “You are the only one who has to follow Bruce’s rules, because he’s your Father. We all have to follow Alfred’s rules, though. Even Bruce. Anyway, you’re the only one in the house who is under eighteen.”

“I’ll let Father know you said it was okay to stop following his rules after I turn eighteen,” Damian said.

Dick shrugged, “He already knows you’ll stop following his rules. He knows he won’t be able to ground you anymore once you and Robin get married.”

Damian’s eyes widened, “I forgot to call Robin and tell her I was coming with you. I’ll have to do that this afternoon.”

Dick nodded, “Yeah, I forgot to call Barbara, too. Come on, let’s go.”

Dick and Damian walked into the hospital room to find Mr. Haly smiling at them.

“What’s up, Pop?”

“You never did learn how to whisper, Dickie,” the man said.

Dick blushed, “You heard that?”

“Most of it,” Mr. Haly said, then turned to Damian, “You must be Damian.”

“Yes, sir,” the teen said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Glad to meet you, too, young man,” Mr. Haly said, “What did Dickie do to get a performance out of you?”

Damian glanced up at Dick with a smirk and asked, “Dickie?”

“You got a problem with it,” Dick asked.

Damian shook his head, looking back at Mr. Haly, “Not him. Todd.”

Mr. Haly looked confused, “Who is Todd?”

“That’s Jason,” Dick said, “Todd is his last name.”

“He told me that the circus guy was here to steal from Dick,” Damian said.

Mr. Haly smiled, “Protective of your big brother, huh?”

“Someone has to look out for him,” Damian said, growing a smirk, “He is incapable of doing it himself.”

Dick grabbed Damian’s shoulders and shook him gently, “Damian likes to think he’s the only one who can look out for me. I’m the most spoiled, pampered person in the house.”

“At least you know your position,” Damian said.

Mr. Haly laughed at the interaction, “Oh, Dickie. You have no idea how happy it makes me to know you have such a loving family around you now. I was concerned about that, every so often.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Pop,” Dick said, “I’m doing good.”

“Good,” Mr. Haly said, “Then, maybe we should conduct our business. How long can you stay, Dickie?”

“How long do you need me to stay,” Dick asked, “I was planning on a week, but I can stay longer if you need me to.”

Mr. Haly nodded, “Good, that should be long enough. It will even give you time to go out to the circus.”

Dick smiled, “Well, I was planning on us staying with the circus. We didn’t get a hotel room in town.”

“I’m sure they can fit you in,” Mr. Haly said, “It might be tight, but they’ll make it work.”

Mr. Haly turned to Damian and said, “Can I ask you a favor, Damian?”

“Of course, sir,” Damian said.

“Could you please send Steven back here,” Mr. Haly asked.

Damian stood up, “Sure.”

“It was nice to meet you, Damian.”

Dick squeezed Damian’s shoulder as the teen headed for the door, “It was nice to meet you, too, Sir.”

_Several Minutes Later…_

Steven stuck his head into Pop Haly’s hospital room and smiled at the two men sitting in the room.

Mr. Haly waved Steven over and said, “Come in, Steven, come in.”

“Good morning, Mr. Haly,” Steven said, “You’re looking better today.”

“And why shouldn’t I,” Mr. Haly asked, “My boy brought such interesting visitors to see me today.”

Steven rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously, “Interesting…yeah.”

“They’re harmless,” Dick said as Steven pulled up a chair, “Except for the little one.”

Dick couldn’t hide his smile as Steven froze halfway down to his chair and shot Dick a worried look. Steven was remembering the piercing stare that had frozen him to the couch in the waiting room.

“Steven, I’m kidding,” Dick said, “He had a trick played on him. You just happened to be the unintentional punchline. Stay around my brothers long enough and it’s bound to happen again.”

Steven looked like that was very low on his list of things to do.

Dick patted Steven’s shoulder, “They’re great guys, you’ll see.”

“Okay, let’s get down to business,” Mr. Haly said, “Steven, you’ve been doing a great job running the circus, both with me and for me. You have no idea how much I appreciate that. I always envisioned Haly’s as a family circus, and I’ve tried to make all of my performers part of my family. I was overjoyed when your family joined ours, and made yourselves at home. The fact of the matter is, thought, that your family replaced family. I adopted Dick’s dad when his parents died. I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to do that for Dick when his parents died, but I have never stopped considering Dick to be family. My will hasn’t been changed in almost thirty years, and it declares Dick as my next of kin.”

“You told me that when you asked me to call him, Mr. Haly,” Steven said.

“I know, but I want to make sure you understand what that means,” Mr. Haly said, “You’ve done so much for me, and I appreciate everything, but I’m giving the circus to Dick.”

Steven leaned forward with a soft smile, “Mr. Haly, _I know._ I helped you out as a way to stay with the circus after my injury. I never expected anything from it. That’s the circus life. We help each other out however we can. I was glad to do it. When the circus is handed over to Mr. Grayson, you won’t hear any complaints from me.”

Mr. Haly smiled, “Thank you, Steven. You’ve been such a big help to me.”

Dick patted Steven’s shoulder, “How would you like to continue to be of assistance?”

Steven cocked his head at Dick, “What do you mean?”

“Pop and I talked a bit before you came in,” Dick said, “The circus was my first home, and will always have a place in my heart, but I have another home. I have a career, and a family. I’m engaged. We’ll be getting married soon. My fiancé is physically unable to live a life on the road. Short story long, I’m just not able to drop everything and return to the circus. As interesting an idea as it might be, I haven’t performed since I was eight. I need someone who is more familiar with the current goings-on in the circus world. I see no reason to disrupt the flow of the circus.”

“Meaning what,” Steven asked.

“I want you to stay on,” Dick said, “Stay in the same role you’ve been in since your injury. I want you to continue to manage the circus after Pop retires and after I go home.”

Steven’s eyes widened, “Really?”

“The circus needs someone who can handle the day-to-day operations. I can’t do that. You’ve been doing that for years. I see no reason to change anything.”

Steven leaned back in his chair with a warm smile, “You have no idea how many minds you just put at ease in the circus. I’ve got to tell you, everyone is pretty nervous, with Mr. Haly in the hospital. There are some performers who are wondering if this is the end of the circus. It’s going to be a rough show tonight, if we can’t settle them down.”

Dick grew a bright smile, “There’s a show tonight?”

Steven looked at Mr. Haly and asked, “Is there a show tonight, Mr. Haly?”

“You know my answer to that, Steven,” Mr. Haly said, “The show must go on.”

“Who will replace you as Ringmaster,” Dick asked.

Mr. Haly grew a wry smile, “Do you want to do it, Dickie?”

Dick’s eyes widened, “Me? I hate to tell you this, Pop, but I haven’t been to a circus since my eleventh birthday. I wouldn’t even know where to begin anymore. Besides, Damian has never been to a circus before. I want to sit with him and watch tonight. See how he likes it.”

Steven took a breath and said, “I guess Dad can do it again.”

Mr. Haly nodded, “He’ll do. He’s never let me down before, when he’s filled in in the past. He has my blessing. When will the lawyers be here, Steven?”

“Day after tomorrow,” Steven said, “That’s the soonest they could send anyone. Sorry, Mr. Haly.”

Mr. Haly shrugged, “If they can’t send anyone until the day after tomorrow, then they can’t send anyone until the day after tomorrow. That’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

Mr. Haly turned a serious look to Dick and asked, “Are you telling me that you have never taken your brother to a circus?”

“Not many of them come to Gotham City, Pop,” Dick said before nudging Steven, “You could stop by in town every so often, you know.”

Steven shook his head, “The northeast has never been good for bookings for us. We’ve, kind of, scratched that off our list of potential show locations.”

“You might have to add it back into the schedule,” Mr. Haly said, “It’s going to be Dick’s circus, after all. I’m sure he’d like to see it every now and then.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Dick said.

“Speaking of which,” Mr. Haly said, “Why don’t you two go out to the circus and let everyone know what’s going on?”

Dick stared sadly at Mr. Haly, “So soon? We’ve only been talking for a couple hours, Pop.”

The old man nodded, “I’m getting tired, Dickie. I’m not going anywhere, I promise. Go. Take care of the circus, and your brothers. Then, you can come back tomorrow and tell me how everything went.”

“Okay, Pop,” Dick said, with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Mr. Haly smiled widely, “I promise, I will still be here when you come back tomorrow.” Dick nodded, and Mr. Haly said, “You will sleep in my trailer, and I won’t take no for an answer, Dickie. Steven, we need accommodations for our guests.”

Dick turned to Steven, “We aren’t guests. My brothers and I came to work. Don’t be afraid to ask us, or tell us, to do something. Pop, will your trailer sleep four?”

Mr. Haly snorted a laugh, “Only if you sleep standing up.”

Dick nodded, “Not that I haven’t had to do that before, but I’d rather not stand. Think it could fit two?”

“Probably,” Mr. Haly said.

“We’ll find somewhere for you, Mr. Grayson,” Steven said.

“What did I tell you about that, Steven,” Dick asked, “Call me Dick.”

Steven smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, Dick. Should we go?”

**A/N: Here’s another chapter. Hopefully this will hold everyone over for a while. Chapter three is coming along very slowly. I am still working through the stay at home orders. We’re getting busier as this whole situation goes along. I miss being able to leave the house without a mask and gloves. I’m betting bank tellers are hating this. Everyone walking in with masks and gloves, and not knowing which ones are customers and which ones are robbers.**

**Stay safe out there.**

**I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.**

**Thanks for playing along.**


	3. 3

The Torch

Chapter 3

_The following takes place immediately after Chapter 2._

Dick and Steven returned to the waiting room, where only one of Dick’s younger brothers were still waiting. Dick looked around before nudging Jason awake with his foot.

“Hey, where are Timmy and Damian?”

Jason looked around in shock, “What the hell? They were right here.”

“They can’t have gotten far,” Dick said, “You still have the car keys, right?”

Jason patted his pocket, and his eyes widened. Jason blushed as he mumbled, “Shit.”

Smiling, Dick pulled his phone from his pocket and selected Tim’s speed dial contact. The call was answered on the second ring by a bashful-sounding Tim.

“Um, hi Dick.”

“What’s going on, Timmy,” Dick asked.

Tim sighed, then said, “I’m sorry, Dick. I tried. I really did. I couldn’t sit there anymore.”

“It’s okay, Little Brother,” Dick said quickly, “I know you tried. Thanks for putting up with the hospital for as long as you did. Is Damian with you?”

“Yeah, he’s right here,” Tim said, “He’s a good little pick pocket. Jason didn’t even flinch when Damian took the keys.”

Dick smiled at Jason, then said, “We’re ready to go. Where are you?”

“We’ll be there in a few minutes,” Tim said, “We went down the street to McDonalds. Did you want anything?”

Dick tilted the phone away from his mouth and asked Jason, “McDonalds?”

Jason shrugged, then nodded.

Dick turned to Steven and asked, “Can your car fit the three of us? We’ll buy you lunch, then we can head to the circus.”

Steven nodded, “We can do that.”

Dick spoke to Tim again, “Wait for us there. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

_A Few Minutes Later…_

“Do you know how much trouble you’re in,” Jason asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his younger brothers.

Damian rolled his eyes and said, “None. It’s not our fault you were asleep, or that you were so unaware of your surroundings that you didn’t even notice when something was taken out of your pocket.”

“Is that so,” Jason challenged.

Damian gave a small growl, stood up, grabbed a handful of Jason’s shirt, and dragged the man outside of the restaurant. Once outside, Damian turned and growled, “Why are you making this harder for Dick? We all agreed to turn this off and support him. You’re _supposed_ to be the mature, responsible one. Start acting like it.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “Where do you get off…”

Damian stabbed two fingers into Jason’s chest, interrupting his rant, “Not here! You want to fight later? That’s fine. I’ll kick your ass when we get home. Until then, stop acting like a little bitch, man up, and, for once in your life, worry about someone other than yourself.”

The brothers stared daggers at each other for just short of a minute, until Jason took a breath and said, “Well, you’re right about two things.”

“What’s that,” Damian asked.

“We are here for Dick,” Jason said, “And, you’re getting your ass beat hard when we get home.”

Damian smirked as he headed back to the restaurant, “That’s what you think. Now, go inside and eat your Filet o’ Fish.”

“You got me the Filet o’ Fish,” Jason asked, “I hate the Filet o’ Fish.”

“I know,” Damian said, his smirk growing.

“The McRib is back,” Jason said, “You could have gotten me one of those.”

“You have money,” Damian said, “If you want one so bad, get one.”

Jason eyed Damian curiously, “You like the Filet o’ Fish, though. You got it, knowing I wouldn’t eat it.”

Damian ignored the comment, and walked past Jason and back into the McDonalds.

“You two okay,” Tim asked as Damian sat down at the table again.

Dick was eyeing the teen as Damian said, “Sure.”

A number was called over the loudspeaker, and Damian pulled a receipt out of his pocket, “Excuse me.”

Damian got up and walked over to Jason, who was in line to order.

“Here,” Damian said, handing over the receipt, “That was your order number.”

“I told you, I don’t _want_ the Filet o’ Fish,” Jason growled.

“Just get your order,” Damian said, walking away.

Jason shook his head in frustration. The number was called again, and Jason looked at the receipt. _There’s more on this receipt than just one meal. Figures the Demon Brat would make me the bad guy when no one gets their food._

Jason walked up to the counter and found two full trays. He looked back at the table, then picked up the trays.

“You could have at least helped me, Squirt,” Jason said as he set the trays on the table.

Damian shrugged, “You didn’t ask.”

Jason eyed the lone Filet o’ Fish on the trays before asking, “Who gets what?”

Damian smirked at Jason and reached for the trays. His hand hovered over a McRib for a few seconds before he grabbed the Filet o’ Fish and an order of fries.

“Tim did the ordering, Todd,” Damian said.

Tim handed Jason a McRib, and Jason said, “That’s why I like him better than you.”

Dick’s smile brightened up the restaurant, “Aww, Jay. You just admitted to liking Timmy. That’s got to be a first.”

Jason’s eyes widened, and he glared at the silently giggling Damian.

“Um, is it always like this with you guys,” Steven asked as Tim handed him his own McRib. Damian was the only one at the table who didn’t get a McRib.

Dick nodded and smiled happily, “Yep, pretty much. I told you, they’re great guys.”

The men finished their lunch before Dick asked, “So, how should we do this?”

Steven shrugged, “I guess, just follow me back to the circus. I’ll take you to Mr. Haly’s trailer. Then, I’ll gather the performers, and you can talk to them.”

Dick sounded nervous as he asked, “Is there anybody still with the circus who will remember me?”

“There might be a couple,” Steven said, “They might have a hard time believing that you are you, though.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Dick said.

“You might have to prove your identity,” Jason said, “Think you can do a flip, or a trick, or something?”

Dick shrugged, “Nothing circus-worthy, I don’t think.”

“You can always stick Damian’s head in a lion’s mouth,” Jason said, smirking at the teen.

“The lion’s breath probably smells better than yours,” Damian said, not quite quietly enough.

“Enough, you two,” Tim said, mostly because he was sitting between his even numbered brothers.

Dick eyed his even brothers, wondering again if it was a good idea to bring them along.

“Damian, why don’t you go with Steven,” Dick said, “That way, if we get separated, I can call you and get directions.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Damian said.

Steven didn’t think it was a good idea, but he didn’t want to question his new boss. The matter seemed decided, though.

“We ready to go,” Dick asked, rising from the table.

“Let’s go,” Tim said, collecting their trash and throwing it away before they left the fast food establishment.

Steven walked to his truck, and was a bit disturbed at how quietly Damian was following him. “Um, here it is.”

“Okay,” Damian said quietly as he climbed into the passenger seat.

They pulled out of the parking lot, and Damian stared resolutely out of the passenger window.

_I don’t get it,_ Steven thought, _is he nervous around me? Maybe he has an issue with strangers? His brother basically ordered him to come with me. I don’t think I would be comfortable, either._

Waiting at a stop light, Damian heaved a large sigh, then said, “Look, I’m sorry about the hospital. I treated you…unfairly, and I’m sorry.”

“What happened,” Steven asked, “Dick didn’t go into details.”

“My brother thought it would be funny to tell me that you were here to steal Dick’s inheritance,” Damian said.

“His inheritance,” Steven asked.

“The circus,” Damian said, “Jason said you were from the IRS.”

Steven laughed, “The IRS? Why would he say that?”

“Because he’s an asshole,” Damian grumbled.

“Don’t you think I’d be wearing a suit if I was from the IRS,” Steven asked, trying not to laugh too much.

Damian shrugged, “Maybe you dressed casually to put Dick at ease, or because you thought you were going to a circus and didn’t want to get your suit dirty.”

This time, Steven did laugh, “Maybe I misjudged you, Damian. You’re really protective of Dick, aren’t you?”

Damian glanced down, then over at Steven, “Do you have children, Mr. Anderson?”

“I have a daughter,” Steven said, “Why? Are you looking for a girlfriend?”

Damian started in shock, “What? No, I already have one.” Damian then cocked his head, “Why do you ask? Are you trying to set her up with someone?”

“She’s almost your age,” Steven said, “She’ll be twelve next month.”

Damian’s jaw dropped, “Eleven? I’m fifteen. I’m just short.”

“Really,” Steven asked, not quite believing the youth’s reported age, “Then, why did you ask if I had kids?”

Damian sighed, “To see if you understood the parental urge to protect. For a long time, Dick did that for me. As a result, I’m very protective of him.”

“Why didn’t you just say that,” Steven asked.

“I’m wishing I had,” Damian grumbled.

Damian’s phone vibrated in his pocket. The teen removed the device, then sighed at seeing Dick’s face on the screen.

“We haven’t even made it to the freeway yet. How can you have lost us already?”

“We had to stop at a light,” Dick said, “Where are you?”

“Stopped at a light,” Damian said before turning to look out of the back window. “Tt, you’re two cars behind us. I can see you from here.”

“I told you that was them,” Damian could hear Tim say from the back seat of the car through the speakerphone.

“Okay, we didn’t lose you,” Dick said, “I really just wanted to check if you two were okay.”

Damian glanced at Steven as the car started moving again, “We’re fine.”

“Did you apologize, like you said you would,” Dick asked.

“Yes,” Damian said, in a softer voice.

“Good boy,” Dick said.

Damian could hear the clicking of the turn signal and said, “Now, we’re making a right turn. Think Todd can keep up with that?”

The sound of an engine revving was quickly followed by Dick saying, “Jason, no! It’s a rental car.”

“Alfred bought the extra insurance,” Jason growled, “He always does.”

“Damian isn’t the only one in Steven’s truck, though,” Dick pleaded.

Damian smirked at Steven and said, “You might want to drive faster, just in case.”

Steven checked the rearview mirror and found a white SUV barreling up behind him, “That’s probably not a bad idea.”

_Later…_

Having avoided traffic accidents, both incidental and accidental, both vehicles arrived at the circus safely. Steven parked in front of a trailer and pointed for Jason to park next to him.

Steven walked up to Dick and said, “I’ll go gather the performers in the big top. We’ll meet there in fifteen minutes. Mr. Haly’s trailer is that one, two over from us, with the blue stripe. Big top, fifteen minutes.”

Steven walked away, and Dick turned to his brothers, “Well, what do you think?”

Tim looked around and gave a slow nod.

Jason stretched and said, “Not bad. Not really sure what I expected, but it’s exactly how you described it.”

Dick gave a small smirk, “You never listened when I described this place.”

“You described the place,” Jason said quietly, “I never wanted you to describe the people. It would have made you sad, and I couldn’t stand that then.

Dick clapped a hand on Jason’s shoulder, “I knew you cared, Little Wing.”

Dick walked over to Damian and asked, “Well?”

“Hmm,” Damian hummed.

“Hmm, what,” Dick asked.

“You actually have one,” Damian said.

Dick smiled, “Actually have what?”

Damian pointed at the big top, “The circus tent. I thought the big-ass circus tent was just something from the movies.”

Tim smiled as he walked over, “Where did you think they performed?”

Damian shrugged, “I don’t know. Stadiums? Auditoriums?”

“Not many places will go for that. Not with the animals,” Dick said, “It’s easier to bring our own performance venue with us.”

Damian looked up at Dick, “Isn’t that hard to fold up and transport?”

“Out of all the questions you could have asked, _that’s_ the one you settled on,” Jason asked.

“It’s okay, Jay,” Dick said, stepping between his brothers, just in case, “It’s a good question. Yes, it’s heavy and hard to maneuver and transport. I’d guess it weighs around a thousand pounds. We have to haul it, and the tent poles, on semi-trailers. Any other questions?”

“Some of these trucks and trailers look awfully new,” Jason said, “I thought the circus was a dying industry?”

Dick looked around, “It looks like Pop has made good use of Bruce’s money over the years.”

“Father’s money,” Damian asked, his eyes widening.

Dick nodded, “Bruce worked out a way to help the circus when he took me in. Bruce and I are actually silent partners with Pop in the circus.”

“Why,” Damian asked.

Dick gave a content sigh, “Knowing the circus was still running made me happy. Bruce was pretty desperate to get me to smile in those early days. He’s never felt like he’s done enough for me, no matter what I tell him.”

“What do you tell him,” Jason asked curiously.

Dick smiled at his brothers, “That I’m happy because of him, not his money or anything else.”

Tim gave a dramatic sniff and wiped at his eyes, “That’s it. That got me. I’m gonna cry.”

Dick pushed Tim lovingly, and the brothers broke down in laughter.

Dick said, “Come on, let’s get to the big top. Let me do the talking during the meeting.”

The brothers entered the big top and gave their eyes a second to adjust to the dim light. To Dick, it felt like he had never left. Everything was just as he remembered it from the last time he had set foot in a circus tent. The only difference that he could see was Steven standing in the center ring, surrounded by the troupe. Even knowing Pop Haly was lying in a hospital bed several miles away didn’t stop Dick from expecting to see the robust man standing in front of his family.

Steven waved Dick over, and Dick walked up slowly to stand at the man’s side.

“Like I was saying, I saw Mr. Haly this morning,” Steven said, addressing the circus, “He looked good, but he’s still weak. Um, he didn’t want me to tell you about this until today, but yesterday, Mr. Haly asked me to do something very important for him. Well, I guess I’ll just come out and say it, since there is no easy way to say it. Whether he makes it out of the hospital or not, Mr. Haly is retiring from the circus.”

The troupe dissolved into several long minutes of murmured comments, intense discussions, and a general spike in the tension level in the tent.

Steven held up a hand, “Calm down, everyone. Calm down. It’s going to be alright.”

“What’s going to happen to us,” was called from the middle of the troupe.

“Mr. Haly thought about that,” Steven said, “He has a will, which names his sole beneficiary; the person who will inherit everything Mr. Haly owns.”

“Are you our new boss, Steven,” was asked in a half hostile, half bemused tone.

Steven shook his head with a smile, “Mr. Haly likes me, but I’m not in the will. Everything is going to someone who was with the circus long before most any of us here today were. This is him. Dick Grayson.”

Dick took a step forward and gave a nervous wave, “Hello, everybody. I’m Dick Grayson.”

An older man stepped forward and looked Dick up and down critically. He stroked his chin and addressed Dick in Romani, “Impossible. This can’t be. Dick Grayson is just a boy.”

Dick smiled and responded in his native tongue, “That was almost twenty-five years ago. I didn’t just stop aging at eight years old.”

Dick looked around at the assembled group. Some were looking at the men strangely, obviously not understanding Romani, while others were nodding appreciatively. No matter how rusty Dick’s Romani was, it obviously was good enough to make a good impression.

Dick switched back to speaking English and said, “Like I was saying, I’m Dick Grayson. I was born in this circus, and performed as part of the Flying Graysons. I helped Pop hire the Andersons, after my parents died. They died during a show outside of Gotham City. The local authorities, while investigating the deaths, wouldn’t let me leave with the circus, even though Pop offered to take me in. Pop is family, but an actual blood relation was all that mattered to the officials. I got lucky, though, and was adopted by a very nice man in Gotham City, which is why I didn’t come back to the circus. In all this time, Pop never changed his will. He has wanted me to inherit the circus since I was three years old. Well, I don’t want it.”

Several gasps broke out from the crowd, and Dick quickly continued his thought, “What I want is for Pop to live forever, and continue with the circus, where he belongs. Unfortunately, we live in reality. So, the best I can do is honor his wishes. Pop Haly is, and always has been, the closest person to a grandfather I’ve ever had. I love that man more than I can possible express. I haven’t seen him in a very long time, but I know his wishes, and I know what I promised him this morning. Haly’s Circus has always been, first and foremost, a family. He wants that to continue, and so do I. If all of you are still committed to this family, then there is no reason anything has to change.”

A man stepped forward nervously and said, “Um, Mr. Grayson, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but the circus gets financial assistance from someone Mr. Haly called his ‘silent partner’. Sometimes, that would be all that would keep the circus running. If Mr. Haly dies, will that funding be lost? We have families to think of.”

Dick smiled, “You have nothing to worry about. I’ve known about that financial assistance since it began.”

Several of the performers looked perplexed. Bruce’s payments to the circus had not been common knowledge within the troupe until just now.

“Well, why shouldn’t we worry?”

Dick’s smile grew as he said, “Because I am the silent partner. Like I said, I was adopted by a very nice man. I give you all my word. As long as I live, so will Haly’s Circus.”

The circus troupe spoke amongst themselves for several minutes before a woman stepped forward and asked, “So, what is this going to look like? What’s going to change?”

Dick shrugged, “I don’t see why anything has to change. Pop Haly won’t be here anymore. Legal ownership will sit with me, instead of him. Other than that, I don’t want anything to change.”

“Are you our new Ringmaster, then,” was asked.

Dick shook his head, “No. I want the circus to be a success. I’ve been out of the game so long that having me as the Ringmaster would be working against what I want. Steven and I spoke with Pop about who would take over as Ringmaster, and he suggested Bill Anderson. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

Several people looked over at a surprised-looking, silver haired, strongly built man. Dick vaguely remembered the man from the last time Dick had visited the circus, the day after his eleventh birthday.

Bill asked, “Me?”

“You’ve done it before, Dad,” Steven said.

“Any issues with Mr. Anderson becoming the Ringmaster,” Dick asked.

No one said anything, and Dick smiled, “Okay. That’s settled.”

“So, are you going to take over the day-to-day operations from Steven?”

Dick glanced at Steven and said, “No, I think Steven has been doing a pretty good job. I don’t see a reason to replace him. If he was good enough for Pop, then he’s good enough for me.”

A confused voice asked, “Then…what _will_ you be doing?”

Dick shrugged, “Signing the checks. As much as this was my first home, I have another home, another family, now. My fiancé physically can’t live on the road, and I wouldn’t as her to do that. I’m not here to remake the circus in my image. I’m here because Pop was closer to me than a grandfather, and he asked to see me again before he dies. I couldn’t ignore that wish. Like I said, I see no reason to change anything around with the circus. I’m not going to interfere with your lives or disrupt your families. In fact, I probably won’t be around all that much. I’ll always be reachable by phone when I’m not here, though. I want this circus to follow Pop Haly’s dream. Keep performing. Do what you do best. Bring smiles to the crowds.”

The assembled troupe members gave a short round of applause, which brought a smile to Dick’s face.

Dick clapped his hands once and said, “Well, if I’ve been informed right, you all have a show tonight to prepare for. I haven’t seen a circus in a long time. I’m really looking forward to this. I’ll be around, if anyone wants to talk. I’ll be staying here for a couple days, while we work out the change of ownership. Oh, these are…”

Dick trailed off as he looked around for his brothers. They were nowhere to be found, until Jason waved from the entry to the tent. Dick pointed in their direction and said, “Those are my brothers. Adopted brothers. They’ll be here for a few days, too.”

Steven nodded and said, “Okay, everyone. Show is at six-thirty tonight. Curtain call is five-forty-five. Try to relax a bit before then. We’ve performed without Mr. Haly before. Let’s make tonight a success.”

The meeting broke up, but many of the performers came forward to introduce themselves to the new boss. Dick spent the next half hour talking to the circus troupe, learning several bits of news about the current running of the circus. It appeared that the circus had been in the middle of a renaissance when Mr. Haly had his heart attack. Many in the circus truly thought that the circus would end when Mr. Haly eventually died. They were now starting to feel reassured that the circus now had a future.

Finally extricating himself from the throng of performers, Dick walked over to Jason and Tim, who were still standing at the tent entrance.

Dick released a breath and said, “I’m glad that went well. They should be able to focus now. A distracted circus is a recipe for disaster.”

“You seemed to handle that well,” Tim said.

“Yeah,” Dick said, “It went better than I thought it would. Hey, where’s Damian?”

“Oh, he went searching,” Tim said.

Dick stared at his brother in confusion, “Searching for what?”

Jason hitched a thumb over his shoulder and said, “Signal.”

Dick glanced around Jason to see what he was pointing at. In the distance, Damian could be seen wandering around the parking lot, with a hand pressed against his head. The teen was obviously holding his phone to his ear.

Jason smirked and said, “The little woman called. Apparently, he couldn’t hear her. He’s been looking for a stronger signal for the past ten minutes.”

Dick shrugged, “We are kind of in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t think of phone signal when we were coming out here. I think he’s got the right idea, though. I need to make a couple calls myself.”

“You need to make a call,” Steven said, walking up behind Dick, “You can use Mr. Haly’s trailer, if you want.”

“Does he have a phone line in his trailer,” Dick asked.

Steven smiled, “No, he has a cell signal booster. We have them in all of the trailers. It makes communications much easier. Mr. Haly has been trying to invent the modern circus for years. Anyway, we have a lot more children with the circus than there were when you were a performer.”

“I was the only one, when I was growing up,” Dick said.

Steven nodded, “There are several families now. Having ways to communicate with the outside world makes it much easier to educate our kids.”

“Thanks, Steven. I think I’ll try it out,” Dick said, “You said it was the one with the blue stripe?”

“That’s right,” Steven said, “I’ll show you. This way.”

The group walked over to the trailer, and Steven opened the door. Dick walked inside and looked around at the small space. Tim and Jason grabbed Steven’s arms and prevented him from entering the trailer, giving Dick a minute alone.

The small interior brought Dick back to his childhood. The layout of the trailer was completely different than the one he shared with his parents, but the feel was the same. Dick had never been inside of this trailer before. He had never seen this trailer before. The last time Dick had visited the circus, Pop Haly had a different trailer. It didn’t matter to Dick.

It still felt like home.

Dick wiped at his eyes as he took a deep breath. _It smells like Pop,_ Dick thought. _It smells like Pop, and the circus, and hard work, and the great food we always scraped together, and…_

_And Mom and Dad, and how much we loved each other, and how we wanted nothing more than to spend eternity together, happy and loved. I’ve missed this so much. I love Bruce, and everything he’s done for me and given me, but this is home._

“Do I need to do anything special to access the signal booster?”

Tim shook his head sadly at the watery, sad tone in Dick’s voice. Jason and Tim let go of Steven, and Jason nodded to the man.

Steven stepped into the trailer and said, “No, you shouldn’t need to do anything.”

Dick looked around again and said, “Pop was right, the four of us definitely won’t fit in here. I think Damian and I will stay here. Can you find a place for Jason and Tim to sleep?”

Steven nodded, “No problem. I’ll take care of it.”

Steven turned to leave the trailer, but Dick stopped him and handed him several bills from his wallet. Steven looked down at the money and asked, “What’s this for?”

“To pay for our tickets for tonight’s show,” Dick said.

Steven held out the cash and said, “You don’t need to pay to see your own circus, Dick.”

Dick didn’t reach for the offered money, “I don’t own this place yet. We’re not here to take advantage of anything, even ourselves. We’re paying for our tickets, or we’re not watching the show. Is that clear?”

Steven nodded slightly and pocketed the money, “Clear, Mr. Grayson. I’ll set aside some good seats for the four of you.”

“Thank you, Steven,” Dick said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Steven walked out of the trailer and said to Jason and Tim, “Come with me. I’ll show you where you two will be staying. We have an old trailer that’s mostly storage now. I’m afraid you’ll have to clear it out to get to the bunks, but you should be able to sleep pretty comfortably there.”

“A storage trailer,” Jason asked doubtfully.

Steven led the brothers to an older trailer that was parked nearby, “Mr. Haly said there was something special about this trailer. No one’s used it in years, but Mr. Haly wouldn’t let us get rid of it. He made sure it was kept clean and organized personally. No one has ever asked him about it. I guess it’s a keepsake for him.”

Steven walked around to the back of the trailer, pulled an extension cord out of the side, and plugged it in. He walked back to the door and said, “Sorry. We don’t usually keep this one plugged in. We don’t have the water hooked up in this one, either, so it is probably going to be for the best to use the bathroom in Mr. Haly’s trailer. I’m sure Mr. Grayson won’t mind.”

Jason stepped into the cramped trailer and shrugged, “It’s a place to sleep. It beats trying to sleep in the rental car.”

“This will work fine for us,” Tim said, “Thanks, Steven.”

“No problem,” Steven said, “If you need anything, you know where Mr. Haly’s trailer is. My family’s trailer is the one we parked the trucks in front of earlier. I’ll be there until just before curtain call, if you need me.”

“Thanks,” Jason said as Steven left. Jason looked around a bit before saying to Tim, “What do you think the story is about this trailer? I can’t see a circus keeping an extra trailer around for guest accommodations.”

Tim looked at the interior of the small trailer, “I don’t know. I can’t think they would get too many visitors.”

Jason started moving boxes and trunks away from the sleeping accommodations, then asked, “Do you want the top bunk or the bottom bunk?”

Tim looked at the built-in bunk beds critically, “I better take the top bunk. Who knows how sturdy they are, and I’m lighter than you.”

Jason considered the thought, then nodded, “Probably not a bad idea.”

“Let’s go get our suitcases,” Tim said.

_Meanwhile…_

Dick stepped out of Mr. Haly’s trailer and looked around. He saw Tim and Jason approaching from one direction, and Damian approaching from the other. Tim and Jason got to him first.

“Did Steven find a place for you two to sleep,” Dick asked.

Jason nodded, “Yeah. There’s an old storage trailer that he’s going to put us up in. Doesn’t look like it’s been used in a while.”

“Yeah,” Dick asked, following Jason and Tim to the SUV, “Well, it’s only for a couple days.”

“We’ll be fine,” Tim said, “but, there’s no running water, so we’ll be using your trailer for that.”

“Not a problem,” Dick said before stopping and turning to Damian, “What did Robin say?”

Damian gave a small smile, “She wants to know when my travels will bring me to Alaska next, since I seem to be going all over the country lately.”

Dick gave a small smile, “Did you tell her?”

“And ruin the surprise,” Damian asked, “No chance. I’ve almost got everything set up for her birthday. I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize it now.”

“Hey,” Jason called out, “We’re not schlepping your bags for you. Get over here and get your suitcases.”

Dick and Damian walked over and pulled their bags from the back of the rental car before Jason closed it up again.

Damian looked around and asked, “Which one are we staying in?”

The group walked back to Mr. Haly’s trailer, and Dick handed his bag to Damian, “This one. Do me a favor and put our bags inside. I want to see this storage trailer where Steven has Timmy and Jay staying.”

Damian glanced up at Jason with a crafty smile, “Storage trailer?”

Dick intervened before Jason could escalate things, “It’s not like the circus gets many visitors, Damian. They’re doing the best they can to accommodate us. Now, put our bags inside.”

Dick walked away with Jason and Tim, but stopped with a pronounced gasp when they were still a trailer away from the storage trailer. Jason looked over, and concern found its way onto his face. Dick’s eyes were wide, his jaw was shaking, and he looked like he had forgotten how to breathe.

“How is this possible,” Dick mumbled, “Why is this here? _How_ is this here? Why did Pop keep this?”

“What is it, Golden Boy,” Jason asked softly.

Dick reached out and grabbed Jason’s arm, “This trailer. That truck. These…this was my home.”

Jason eyed the old trailer again before asking, “Are you sure? These things are mass produced. One looks just like another.”

“I know my home, Jay,” Dick said, “This is my home.”

Dick walked slowly around the truck and trailer, “I still remember the license plate numbers. They’re still the same. This dent in the front corner of the trailer. Mom was hooking up the truck and missed the hitch. She hit the side with the tailgate, and just barely missed the propane tank. That brass door handle. Dad knocked off the original silver one while backing into a spot when he hit a light pole.” Dick walked to the back of the trailer and smiled, “Dad cut these notches in the bumper. I couldn’t reach the ladder when I was younger, so he cut out steps for me.” Dick climbed up the ladder and stared at the roof, “I painted this picture of the United States on the roof, to track our trip one summer. The paint is a little faded, but this was me. This was ours.”

Dick climbed down again, and stumbled as his foot hit the bumper. He looked a bit sad when he said, “I guess my feet don’t fit in the notches anymore.”

Dick walked around to the door, but hesitated before opening it. Jason looked around, and found Tim holding Damian back, to give Dick time to look around. Damian wasn’t exactly trying to approach any closer right now, though.

Taking a deep breath, Dick pulled the door open. The interior was dark, and he could see several boxes near the door, where the kitchen was. It took a great force of will for Dick to take a step inside the trailer of his youth, but he did.

Perhaps it was the interior half full of boxes and trunks that threw off his perception, but the inside of the trailer didn’t immediately feel like home. The clear path he remembered from the door, through the kitchen, to the small couch, then the rear bathroom, wasn’t there. The trailer didn’t feel lived in. It wasn’t the bright, airy home on wheels that he remembered. It was just how Jason had described it. A storage trailer.

At least, until he turned towards the bunks.

The bunk beds where Dick used to sleep above his parents were immediately recognizable, and immediately missed. Unlike the small open space of the rest of the trailer, the beds had been kept clear of clutter. Everything was exactly the same in this small part of the small trailer as the last time Dick had seen the space. The heavy quilts, while a little dusty, were the exact same as he and his parents slept under every night. The pillows were in the same spot. The stuffed giraffe, left behind when an impatient Gotham CPS agent repeatedly told Dick to hurry up and leave the only place that made sense to him, was placed lovingly next to his old pillow.

It was all too much. It was too much for Dick to take in. There was no sensible reason for his childhood home to still be a part of the circus. Yet, here it was. It was here, as complete as it could be. It was only missing the Grayson family.

Dick sank to his knees as his emotions overwhelmed him. Tears coursed down his cheeks as he buried his face in his parent’s blanket. Absently, he rubbed a smooth spot on the bedframe. In the back of his mind, Dick remembered that this was the spot where he would step every night before launching himself into his top bunk. He wasn’t sure if it was just a trick of nostalgia, but he could have sworn that he could still smell his mother in the dusty fabric.

Jason sighed as he saw Dick collapse to the floor in tears. He knew it was coming the second Dick said that this used to be his family’s trailer. He walked into the trailer and sat down behind Dick, resting a hand on the older man’s shoulder. Not even the battle-hardened Red Hood was immune to Dick Grayson.

“There was only one reason for Pop to keep this trailer around,” Dick said wetly as he sniffled, “He did this for me. He had no way of knowing if he would ever see me again after my parents died. He still did this. He still kept this around. He maintained this trailer, and the truck, for me, so that one day I…I would still have a home.”

The trailer fell silent for a minute before Jason said softly, “He did this for you. He also did this for himself. How many times did you explain to us that he is your grandfather? That he adopted your dad? Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m pretty sure you weren’t the only one to miss your parents.”

Dick lifted his head from the old blanket, “Then keep a picture. Keep a memento. Do you know how much of a logistical nightmare it must have been to keep this trailer? This is easily the oldest trailer currently with the circus. Even Pop’s trailer is new, and he would never get a new one for himself, unless his old one disintegrated, or unless every family in the circus got a new one first. They had to have someone drive this empty trailer around for years, without anyone living in it. It’s a waste of resources.”

“It’s something he must have wanted to do,” Jason said. “It must have made the old man feel closer to your parents, or to you. It must have given him hope, or something. As long as he had this around, then there was a possibility that you could come back to the circus. He would always have a place for you.”

Dick slowly turned his head to look at Jason before leaning over and hugging his brother tightly.

“Thanks, Little Wing,” Dick said softly, “Why don’t you ever show this side of yourself?”

“Because then people would expect me to be nice all the time,” Jason said, leaning back and winking at Dick. “Where’s the fun in that?”

The comment had the intended effect of cheering Dick up a bit. Dick barked out a short laugh and wiped his eyes on his shirt before releasing a short sigh.

Jason stood and held out a hand to help Dick up, “You better now?”

Dick took the hand and pulled himself up, “Not in the slightest, but I’ll get there. Hell of a shock, seeing this trailer again, though.”

“Maybe you should take it with you when we go home,” Jason said.

Dick pulled Jason into a hug, “Maybe I will. Thanks, Little Wing. I needed that.”

Dick looked out of the door and found Tim and Damian standing there. He walked out of the trailer and pulled Tim into a tight hug.

“Oh, Timmy. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

“We’re here for you, Dick,” Tim said, his voice muffled by Dick’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Timmy,” Dick said, letting go of the young man and hugging the younger man. Neither brother said anything as Dick squeezed Damian tightly.

After letting Damian go, Dick looked down at his brother and said, “Damian, why don’t you get our bags? We’ll sleep here instead.”

“Sure,” Damian said quietly.

Damian walked away to get their bags. Jason eyed the teen, then grabbed his and Tim’s bags, and followed Damian to the other trailer.

“Hey,” Jason said, “enough with the attitude.”

Damian glanced up, “What attitude? I only said one word.”

“You’re the one who keeps saying we’re here for Dick,” Jason said, “For some reason, he wants you to stay with him. I don’t want to hear you complaining about sleeping in a storage trailer. That storage trailer used to be his family’s trailer.”

“I assumed it was something like that when he started crying over it,” Damian said.

Jason’s eyes narrowed a bit, “Lose the tone, okay?”

Damian stopped and turned to face Jason, “What tone? This is how I talk. If you don’t like it, feel free to not talk to me.”

Jason took a breath, “Look, just don’t give Dick any trouble while we’re here. For some reason, he likes you. Now, don’t complain about the sleeping accommodations.”

Damian smirked, “You didn’t look inside the trailers, did you? At least the storage trailer has bunk beds. You’re just upset that you have to spoon with Tim now. This trailer only has one bed.”

Damian grabbed his and Dick’s bags and left Jason to gape at the inside of Mr. Haly’s trailer.

Damian returned to the older trailer to find Dick looking happier than he had several minutes earlier.

“D! D! Come here,” Dick called.

Damian walked up to his brother and asked, “What is it?”

“Drop those,” Dick said. Damian dropped the bags and Dick turned the teen around, “Get a load of that.”

Damian’s eyes widened as he watched two elephants being led into the circus tent.

“What are they doing,” Damian asked.

“Warm up time,” Dick said.

“Warm up?”

“Elephants can get nervous, too,” Dick said, “It’s like a musician, getting ready for a concert. You have to make sure your instrument in is tune, that you know your part, and you know the conductor’s cues. Everything has to work together to make a symphony, or a circus.”

“I never thought of it that way,” Damian said thoughtfully.

“Let’s go watch,” Dick said, dragging Damian towards the tent.

Tim shook his head with a smile as he picked up the discarded suitcases and put them inside the trailer.

“You could have at least let me put our bags away properly,” Damian said as they stepped into the dusky tent.

“No one here is going to steal your bag, Damian,” Dick said seriously.

“That wasn’t what I was worried about,” Damian said before freezing in place, “Whoa.”

“Cool, right?”

“They’re so big,” Damian said softly.

“They won’t hurt you,” Dick said, “Let’s get closer.”

Dick and Damian walked to the outside of the middle ring. Tim and Jason were following behind.

Dick waved to the trainer and asked, “Okay if we watch?”

The woman turned, then froze for a second before walking over, “Mr. Grayson! Of course, you can watch.”

Dick smiled at the woman, who stood nearly as tall as Jason, “Please, it’s Dick. I grew up here; there’s no reason to be formal.”

“If you say so,” the woman said, “I’m Suechelle. Call me Sue.”

Dick shook the woman’s hand while looking at the two elephants, “Where’s Bertha?”

“Bertha,” Sue asked, before the light went on, “Oh, Bertha. We retired her about ten years ago. She was getting old.”

Dick could see how confused Damian looked at the conversation. He smiled at the youth and said, “Bertha is an elephant, Damian. She was my best friend, growing up here.”

Damian nodded slowly, then looked up, “How do you retire an elephant? Does she get a gold watch and a retirement party?”

Dick shook his head, “Animal preserve in Florida still, right?”

Sue nodded, “Yes. Last time I heard; she was still there. Did you spend a lot of time with the elephants?”

Dick smiled, “Oh, yes. For a while, I was the only one Bertha would respond to. We used to have a routine at the beginning of the shows where I would do acrobatics on her back while she was walked around the tent.”

Sue walked towards the smaller of the two elephants in the tent and waved for Dick to follow her, “Well, you should like this, then. This is Molly. She’s Bertha’s daughter.”

Dick’s smile grew, “Well, I do like that. Do you still use the same commands to train the elephants?”

“Yes, we do,” Sue said.

Dick waved expansively at the elephant, until the giant creature wagged her head, flapping her ears.

Dick turned with a large smile and called out, “Damian, come over here.”

“No, thank you,” Damian called back, “I’m fine over here.”

Dick stared at the teen, “But, you love animals.”

“I love animals that aren’t going to trample me at a moment’s notice, and that are smaller than me.”

“Are you bigger than your cow, now,” Jason asked from beside Damian.

Before Damian could respond, Tim leaned over and spoke in Damian’s ear, “Look, he saw the three of us standing here, but he only called you. He wants to share this specifically with you.”

Damian took a slow breath before Jason leaned over and spoke in Damian’s other ear, “The elephant looks pretty tame, and you know that Dick wouldn’t put you in danger. At least, not when the sun’s up.”

“Fine,” Damian said, sounding like it was anything but.

Jason picked Damian up and set him down inside the circus ring. Damian walked tentatively over to stand next to Dick.

Dick wrapped an arm around Damian’s shoulders, partly to usher him closer to the elephant, and partly to keep him from leaving. “Damian, this is Molly.”

“I heard that part from over there.”

“Do you want to say hi,” Dick asked.

Remembering that he was doing this to make Dick happy, Damian looked up at the elephant, gave a small nod, and said, “Hello.”

“That’s not how you say hi to an elephant, Damian,” Dick said. He took a step closer to the elephant and gave a big wave, with his arm held straight up over his head and shaking back and forth wildly. “This is how you say hi to an elephant.”

Again, Molly waggled her head back and forth, sending her ears flopping around her head.

Dick turned to Damian and said, “Give it a try.”

Damian looked around, then slowly lifted his arm and gave it a couple back and forth waves. Molly didn’t react. Secretly, Damian was disappointed at the lack of a response.

Dick appeared next to Damian again, wrapping his arm around the teen’s shoulders again. “Remember when we watched Dumbo, and we talked about elephants? Remember what I told you? Big ears allow for good hearing, but their eyesight isn’t that good. She can’t see you unless you make your moves big and expansive. Try it again, but this time, wave your arm as far as it will go; all the way down to your side and over to your other side, if you have to. And, keep waving until she responds. Oh, and jazz hands. Remember, jazz hands.”

Damian looked up at Dick like he was crazy. “Jazz hands? Her name is Molly, not Fosse.”

“Trust me,” Dick said, “Anyway, you’re smaller than most of the people she will have interacted with before. Spreading your fingers out while you wave will give her more to see, and will give her a better chance of responding to you. And, smile. Elephants are very perceptive. She knows you’re scared right now.”

Damian bristled at the comment, like Dick thought he would. “I’m not scared.”

“Then put this elephant thought her paces, like you would when teaching tricks to Titus,” Dick said, “Just do what I say, okay?”

Damian took a breath and squared his shoulders, “Okay.”

In the background, Tim and Jason both had their phones out and were recording what was going on.

Dick looked around, then said, “Come over here, Damian. Stand on this platform.”

Damian walked over and looked at the small, angled platform, and asked, “Why here?”

“That’s where the trainer stands during the show,” Dick said, “It will help Molly focus.”

“Okay,” Damian said, stepping onto the small platform while Sue led the elephant to stand in front of the boy.

Dick clapped his hands, rubbed them together, and smiled at his youngest brother, “Okay, here we go. We’ll start small, with the wave.”

Damian waved again, this time making his moves as large as he could. It took half a minute, but Molly finally waggled her head at Damian.

Dick absolutely loved the smile that found its way onto Damian’s face when the elephant responded to him.

“Good job, Damian,” Dick said.

“Do we need to give her a treat, or something,” Damian asked, “A peanut, or something?”

“She’ll be rewarded when we’re all done,” Sue said, standing nearby.

Dick stepped up to Damian’s side and said, “The next set of moves are going to require a bit more than waving from you. When you do these next commands, make sure your moves are crisp. For example, if I tell you to put your arm out in front of you, you shoot it out, like your punching someone. If I tell you to crouch down, you duck like someone is shooting at you. If I tell you to jump, you get as high off the ground as you can. Keep the jazz hands, too. Spread those fingers out as much as you can. Painfully wide.”

“Can you call it _anything_ other than jazz hands,” Damian asked.

Dick patted Damian’s shoulder before taking a couple steps away, “Just keep your fingers wide. Let’s start over. Wave again.”

Damian waved again, capturing Molly’s attention again. The elephant shook her head much more quickly this time.

“Stand at attention, Damian,” Dick called out.

Damian stood up as straight as he could, with his arms at his side. Molly froze, staring at the boy with her large, brown eyes.

“Arms straight out to your side, shoulder height. Fingers wide, palms facing Molly,” Dick commanded.

Damian shot his arms out to the side, like Dick had instructed. Molly lifted her head, and her ears seemed to stand up.

“Now, slowly turn in a circle,” Dick said, “Keep your arms out, stay on the platform while you turn, and keep turning until I tell you to stop.”

Damian started turning in place, and Dick called out, “A little slower, D.”

Damian slowed his rotation a bit. He turned three complete circles before Molly started to walk in small circles of her own. Dick saw Damian’s eyes widen when the elephant responded.

“She’s doing it,” Damian said. Dick was pretty sure Damian didn’t mean to say that out loud.

From behind him, Dick heard Jason ask Tim, “Is this elephant training, or a field sobriety test?”

“Face Molly and stand at attention again,” Dick said.

Damian stopped, and stared at Molly. For some reason, he felt like he was forming a connection with the gentle giant, and he was now wondering why he had been nervous.

“Take a knee, Damian,” Dick called out.

“Which one,” Damian asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Dick said, “Just take a knee, and give her a magnanimous bow. Right arm crossing your chest, left arm held out to the side. Try to keep your left palm facing Molly.”

Damian did as he was told, and gave a sweeping bow. He looked up when he noticed movement from Molly. The elephant bent one of her front legs and lowered her head almost to ground level in an elephant version of a bow.

Dick approached Damian and spoke quietly, “Can you get up without your hands touching the ground? I didn’t take your fake knee into account when putting this command out there.”

“Yes, I can get up unassisted,” Damian said.

Dick nodded, “Then, do it. Sweep your right hand out back to the side on the way up. Keep your arms out and your palms facing Molly.”

Damian stood up as instructed. He really wanted to brush the dirt off of his knee, but at this point he didn’t know if that would be interpreted as some secret sign to attack.

“Good job, so far,” Dick said, “Last couple are going to be the most difficult ones to get Molly to do, so if she doesn’t respond, please don’t be upset. Back on the platform, Damian.”

Damian backed up a step, back onto the platform, still keeping his arms out to the side. He hadn’t been told to put them down yet.

The teen noticed that Dick was several steps farther away when he gave his next command, but didn’t think anything about it.

“Okay, you’re going to flap your arms now, Damian,” Dick said, “Slowly, up and down, always keeping your palms facing Molly. Lower your arms to your side, then bring them up to meet over your head. Once your hands touch, lower them again to your side. Keep going. Don’t stop your arms.”

Damian moved his arms slowly up, then down, then back up again, then down. After the fourth repetition of the movement, Molly’s head started going up and down, like she was following his arms with her head.

“Keep going, Damian,” Dick said, approaching the teen again, “This next one has to be done just right, so I’m going to explain it to you first. When I tell you, you are going to stop flapping your arms, then you’re going to try to make yourself bigger than the elephant.”

“Bigger than the elephant,” Damian asked doubtfully, “I’m five foot five and weight one hundred thirty pounds. How am I supposed to be bigger than an elephant?”

“I’ll explain it,” Dick said, “Keep your arms going for now. When I say go, you are going to stop flapping, then crouch down. Once you’re down, do a quick two count, then spring up. Don’t get off the ground, just stand up quickly. Once you’re standing, shoot your arms straight up over your head, palms out, fingers wide. Stand as still as possible once you get in that position. Got it?”

Damian thought for a second, then said, “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good,” Dick said before returning to his original position, several feet away. “Okay, the next time you lower your arms, go for it.”

Damian slowly lowered his arms to his side, then quickly dropped into a crouch. A quick, mental, two count later, Damian stood up as quickly as he could and lifted his arms up over his head as high as possible. He had a hard time staying still, though, because in response to Damian’s movements, Molly lowered her head, then reared back and stood on her hind legs, with her trunk held high.

“Holy shit,” Damian gasped, trying not to move.

Dick was clapping as he called out, “Good job, Little D. You did it. That was perfect. Oh, you can lower your arms now.”

Remembering Dick’s earlier command to make all of his movements crisp, Damian quickly lowered his arms to his side.

That was a mistake.

In focusing entirely on Molly, Damian forgot that there was another elephant in the tent. Unbeknownst to Damian, once Sue had led Molly over to stand in front of Damian, she had led the other elephant to stand behind Damian. The second elephant, named Sam, was following the same cues as Molly. However, he was practicing for his role in the show.

The angled platform where Damian was standing was actually the lowered end of a seesaw. As he was rather nervous when first approaching the giant creatures, Damian hadn’t noticed this obvious set-up.

Jason and Tim had noticed the set-up, and Dick’s obvious placement of their younger brother, which is why they had both started recording the session.

Damian lowering his arms the way he did was a signal for the elephants to end their trick, which in this case was to stop balancing on their hind legs. Molly lowered her front legs back to the ground, sending a small quake through the surrounding ground as her weight was brought back to earth.

Damian didn’t get a chance to feel the quake, because Sam landed first.

_On the other end of the seesaw._

Jason and Tim wished they could have seen the look of disbelief that crossed Damian’s face in the second between when he felt the platform shoving him skyward and when he found himself airborne. One hundred thirty pounds was no match for nearly five tons, and Damian was tossed nearly fifteen feet into the air. The teen flailed, wind-milling his arms and legs to try to control his fall. It didn’t help.

“SHHIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT!!!!!” Damian shouted before landing in an unceremonious lump in the center ring.

Dick was having a hard time not laughing as he walked over to his fallen brother. Jason was not having such a hard time, and was laughing hysterically, leaning on Tim to stay upright.

Dick was a little concerned that Damian wasn’t moving as he knelt at the teen’s side.

“You still alive, D?”

Damian stirred, shaking the disorientation out of his head. He pushed himself up to his hands and knees before spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Dick gasped, “D, you okay?”

Damian coughed and took a deep breath, “I think I bit a chunk out of my tongue when I landed.”

“Let me see,” Dick said, trying to turn Damian’s head.

Damian pulled back, glaring daggers at his older brother, “Don’t touch me.”

“I just want to make sure you’re okay, Damian,” Dick said.

“Fuck you,” Damian spat, “You just want to make sure I’m not mad at your joke on me. That was exactly what you wanted to happen. Well, I am mad. That hurt like hell.”

Dick released a breath, “I’m sorry, Damian.”

“And you think that makes it okay? Were you trying to find an excuse for us to go back to the hospital? Because I might need another new knee after this.”

“Let me help you, D.”

“Don’t touch me,” Damian said, more forcefully this time, “Leave me alone, Richard.”

_Yep, he really is mad,_ Dick thought. _Full first name._ “It was all in fun, Damian. You had fun, commanding Molly. I saw it on your face.”

Damian pushed himself to his feet, grimacing at what felt like several bruised ribs, “Yes, I did. Thanks for ruining that.”

“D…”

“Remember what I said at the hospital, about taking advantage of my trust,” Damian interrupted, “This is exactly what I was talking about.”

Damian walked away from his eldest brother. His first couple steps were obviously pained, but his gait seemed to smooth out after a few feet.

Dick tried to follow Damian, but the teen called out, “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t follow me. Any of you.”

Damian hobbled out of the tent and disappeared. Dick walked up to his other brothers and gave a weary sigh.

Tim, still recording the events on his phone, pointed the device at Dick’s face and asked, “What were you thinking?”

“That it would go better than that,” Dick said, before growing a smile, “And that the other elephant didn’t weigh as much as he obviously does.”

“The Squirt did get some impressive hangtime,” Jason said.

Sue walked nervously over to Dick and said, “So, I’m guessing you don’t want to add that to the show tonight?”

Dick turned to the woman and said, “I’d love to. He’d stab me in the face if I even suggested it, though. Don’t worry, none of us blame you for my prank working perfectly.”

“Blame me,” the woman asked in shock.

Dick shrugged and winked, “They’re your elephants. Relax, Sue. It was just a joke. They look good. I can’t wait to see them in the show tonight.”

“Thanks, Mr. Grayson.”

Dick ignored the title as he turned to his brothers and headed for the exit of the tent. “Where do you think he got off to?”

Tim shrugged, “Don’t know. I don’t see him out here.”

“He can’t have gotten far,” Jason said, “He was limping pretty good when he got up.”

Dick looked around, “Huh, he disappeared. He did say not to follow him.”

“He’ll show up,” Tim said, “It’s not like he can actually go anywhere.”

Dick met Tim’s eyes, “This is Damian we’re talking about. For all we know, he could be halfway to the airport by now.”

Jason nudged Dick and said, “He’ll show up when he’s done sulking. For now, let’s go back to the trailer. We’ll need the cell booster to post the videos to Facebook.”

_Later…_

Dick’s concern grew over Damian’s disappearance as the afternoon wore on. The only thing that eased his mind was that Damian’s suitcase was still in the trailer, and one of the tickets for tonight’s show was missing.

Damian didn’t reappear until just before the start of the show. He slinked into the tent and sat in the empty seat next to Dick as quietly as possible.

It was several minutes before Dick noticed his presence, but when he did, Dick leaned over and said in Damian’s ear, “There you are. I was worried. I really am sorry about earlier.”

“It’s okay,” Damian said softly.

“Is it really okay, or are you just saying that because you’re trying not to hurt my feelings,” Dick asked.

Damian hid a small smile, “I’ll let you know.”

The lights dimmed in the tent, and Dick patted Damian’s back as the show started. Calliope music filled the tent and the ground shook under the stands as the elephants were led into the tent. Dick glanced over at Damian as he saw the elephants get set up for a familiar set of acrobatics. The teen didn’t say anything as the trainers and acrobats performed, ending with Sam the elephant launching an acrobat to land on Molly’s back.

Damian looked up and asked, “Is that what was supposed to happen this afternoon?”

“Ideally,” Dick said.

“Maybe you should have told me about that before you catapulted me across the tent,” Damian asked, “If I’d known I was supposed to land on the elephant’s back, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten hurt this afternoon.”

Dick gave a small smile as the hurt tone in Damian’s voice started to fade. He scooted a bit closer to Damian and said, “Just watch the show.”

Dick was absorbed into the spectacle, and found himself missing this life more than he thought he would. Despite being away from the circus since he was eight years old, he found that very little had changed with the show. It still impressed him as much as it did when he was a boy, growing up among the performers.

An hour and a half after it began, the circus ended. Dick felt great joy entering him for the first time since he heard about Mr. Haly’s heart attack. He looked to his left and found Tim and Jason both smiling at the performance.

“What did you think,” Dick asked.

“They did a good job,” Jason said, “I can’t see you doing this, though.”

“What are you talking about,” Dick said in a mock-offended tone, “I was the star of the show. What did you think, Timmy?”

Tim turned a smiling face to Dick, “That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Dick eyed Tim and asked, “Wait, was this your first circus, too?”

Tim nodded, “Yeah, I’ve never seen a live one before.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that earlier,” Dick asked, “I thought this was only Damian’s first circus.”

Dick turned in his seat to Damian and froze. Damian looked miserable.

“D? What is it?”

Dick hadn’t noticed, but over the course of the show, Damian had slid closer to Dick, until he was pressing himself into Dick’s side. Dick had spent most of the performance with an arm draped around Damian’s shoulders. He had just thought that Damian had forgiven him for earlier.

Now, it seemed like that wasn’t the case.

“That was really loud,” Damian whispered, “Painfully loud. And the clowns…and…”

Damian trailed off, and the smile slid from Dick’s face, “You didn’t like it.”

Damian looked down and shook his head.

Dick released a slow breath as he squeezed Damian’s shoulder supportively. Having grown up in the circus, Dick had seen countless people who just didn’t like the circus, for various reasons. He had hoped that Damian wouldn’t be one of them.

“Was it really that bad?”

Damian glanced up, but didn’t lift his head, “Like someone screaming in my ear for the last hour. I don’t like loud noises. They hurt my ears.”

Dick had long known about Damian’s sensitivity to loud noises. He didn’t think the circus would trigger that reaction, though.

“Can we go,” Damian asked softly.

Dick looked around, then said, “Let’s let the tent clear out first. Okay?”

“I guess so,” Damian said, nodding slightly.

Several minutes later, the brothers were the only ones left in the tent. Steven approached to speak with Dick.

“Well, what did you think?”

Dick smiled at the man and said, “That was great, Steven. The circus looks just as good as I remember.”

Steven seemed to sigh in relief, “That’s good to hear. That will make the troupe happy. I’m sure they’d love to hear that from you, though.”

“Not a bad idea,” Dick said, then turned to Tim and spoke softly, “Hey, can you take Damian back to the trailer? I won’t be long.”

“Sure,” Tim said as Dick left with Steven.

_Later…_

Damian gasped as the door to the small trailer was opened and Dick walked inside. Dick spotted Damian sitting on the bottom bunk and sighed.

“I’m sorry you didn’t like that, Damian. I honestly didn’t think you’d react this way to the circus.”

Damian looked down for a second while Dick started changing into his pajamas, “If it wasn’t so loud, it wouldn’t have been so bad. A few of the acts were interesting. I can tell that they’ve worked hard on performing. I just…don’t like loud noises…or clowns.”

Dick smiled as he sat down next to Damian on the edge of the bed, “To tell you the truth, you’re in good company, not liking clowns. I think the real reason I haven’t been to a circus in twenty years is because Alfred absolutely hates clowns.”

Damian looked up curiously, “He does?”

“You didn’t hear that from me,” Dick said with a wink. “It’s been a long day. Let’s get some sleep. You don’t have to go to more of the shows while we’re here.”

Dick and Damian laid down on what used to be Dick’s parent’s lower bunk after Dick turned the light off.

“Thanks, Dick,” Damian said softly.

**A/N: This has not been a good month for writing.**

**First of all, this chapter was completed a month ago. However, when I went to edit it, a couple days after finishing writing, it was gone. My save file was completely gone. I had to start over from scratch and, unfortunately, the first version of this chapter was better. I just couldn’t remember everything when I went to rewrite this chapter, and I only had the first half written out on paper. This took three weeks to reconstruct. I did the best I could.**

**Then, I lost another story that I’m working on due to clumsiness. I had another story that I was just starting, writing it out on paper on my breaks while working. The day after I lost this original file, I spilled a glass of water on the notebook I was using to write the second story. The ink ran, and I was left with a dozen pages of illegible black smudges. Another story I’m going to have to start from scratch.**

**Stay safe, stay home.**

**I’d love to hear your comments on how this one is going.**

**Thanks for playing along.**


	4. 4

The Torch

Chapter 4

“Oh, great. We got another one.”

Damian, leaning against the fence of the elephant enclosure, watching the gentle giants eating, ignored the comment from behind him.

“Hey, you can’t be here,” the voice said.

Damian again ignored the comment, until someone tapped him on the shoulder. Damian turned around, ready to look up at whoever was behind him, but ended up looking down at a young girl, standing with her hands on her hips.

“You can’t be here,” the girl said, “Go home. Kids can’t run away and join the circus anymore. We get in trouble for that.”

Damian looked the girl up and down, guessing her to be several years younger than him, before saying, “First, I’m not a kid, like you seem to be. Then again, this is a circus. You could be a midget. Second, I’m allowed to be here. I didn’t run away from home.”

“It’s kidnapping for you to stay with us.”

“I wasn’t kidnapped, girl,” Damian said before turning back to watch the elephants.

“Dad,” the girl shouted, “I found another one!”

Damian rolled his eyes as he heard a set of heavy footfalls coming his way. “What is it, dear?”

Damian recognized the voice as that of Steven Anderson.

“I found another runaway, Dad,” the girl said.

Damian turned around and stared at Steven. Steven smiled, then rested a hand on the girl’s shoulder, “He’s not a runaway, Alice. This is Damian, Mr. Grayson’s brother.”

“Oh,” Alice Anderson said, “You didn’t introduce yourself.”

“You didn’t ask,” Damian said, “You assumed, then started yelling for back-up.”

“She’s just doing her job, Damian,” Steven said, “We check for runaways every morning. Kids like to think that it’s okay to run away from home to join the circus. If we leave town with one, we can face kidnapping charges.”

“Do you get that a lot,” Damian asked curiously.

Steven nodded, “We do in the spring. We actually found another one this morning. Authorities will be here by noon to pick him up. In fact, I need to report this to Mr. Grayson. Do you know where he is, Damian?”

Damian nodded, “Hospital. He and Jason went to spend time with Mr. Haly.”

“Any idea when he’ll be back,” Steven asked.

“He didn’t say,” Damian said.

Steven grew a smile as he seemed to look past Damian. Damian had a second to wonder what the look was about before a large, grey elephant’s trunk landed on his shoulder. Damian gave a wordless shout, ducked out of the way, and scrambled over to stand next to Steven as the unexpected appendage entered his peripheral vision.

Steven chuckled, “Are you here for revenge, an apology, or round two?”

Alice looked Damian up and down with a slightly sagging jaw, “Wait, are you the one who got launched yesterday?”

Damian looked up at the Andersons, “You heard about that?”

“The circus is a small place,” Steven said, “Anyway, people heard you yelling during your flight. They were concerned, until Sue explained everything.”

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Alice said, “Dad won’t let me until I’m older.”

“You would have been more than welcome to take my place yesterday,” Damian grumbled.

“Don’t sound so upset, Damian,” Steven said, patting the teen’s shoulder, “You’ve been named an official member of the circus.”

Damian glanced up, “Did Dick push for that?”

“No, I did.”

Damian turned at the voice behind him and found Sue, the elephant trainer, leaning against the fence. “You went down hard and came up fighting. That’s the spirit of Haly’s Circus.”

“Well,” Damian said, blushing slightly, “If that landing didn’t hurt so much, you would have seen some real fighting, because I would have kicked Dick’s ass.”

Sue regarded Damian carefully, then said, “You know, I want to see that, but at the same time, I really don’t want to see that.”

“Why not,” Damian asked.

“Because I get the feeling that you’re better at fighting than you are at elephant training,” Sue said.

Damian gave an evil smile, “You’re right. Is that the one who sent me flying yesterday?”

“This is Sam,” Sue said, “and yes, he was your travel agent.”

Damian looked at the creature, “He’s, um, bigger than the other one.”

“He’s two years older than Molly, and a male,” Sue said.

“Um, how much does he weigh,” Damian asked, his tone leaning more towards curious.

Sue smiled, “He weighs right around five and a half tons.”

Damian’s eyes widened at the figure, “And, it doesn’t bother you, standing next to something that could turn you into something squishy on the bottom of its foot without realizing it?”

Sue shook her head, “This guy’s a big softy. It takes a lot to piss off an elephant. Hey, Dick said you guys are here to help out. Do you want to give me a hand with the elephants?”

Damian glanced up at the gentle giant again. Sam reached his trunk out at the boy. For some reason that he didn’t understand, Damian took a step forward and let the elephant sniff at him.

“I…I guess so.”

_Meanwhile…_

“You catapulted your brother with one of my elephants?”

Dick was flushing bright red as Mr. Haly laughed at the story.

Jason was laughing as well as he said, “He wasn’t very aerodynamic. He just, kind of, went up…then came crashing down.” Jason doubled over in laughter again. 

Mr. Haly looked over at Dick and asked, “Did he know this was going to happen?”

Dick considered the question for a second, then said, “Well, with us as brothers, he should have expected some sort of prank. He wasn’t expecting to be thrown across the tent, though. Sue has named him an official member of the circus now.”

“Aren’t all of your brothers official members of the circus now,” Mr. Haly asked, “just for being your brothers?”

“I guess so,” Dick said, shrugging.

“So, what did you think of the show,” Mr. Haly asked.

Dick’s smile shone brightly, letting Mr. Haly see the young boy in the man, “It was incredible, Pop. They’re just as good as I remember. I think the Anderson’s kids are even better than their parents were.”

“Still not to the Flying Grayson’s level,” Mr. Haly said, “but they’re still good. How did Bill do as the Ringmaster?”

“It was a smooth show,” Dick said, “Everything flowed how it’s supposed to.”

“What did your brothers think of the circus,” Mr. Haly asked, looking at Jason.

Jason crossed his arms over his chest and said, “It was certainly better than the last circus I saw. Your people actually looked like they took pride in their performance.”

“When was the last time you saw a circus,” Mr. Haly asked Jason.

“Oh,” Jason said, not liking the memories that came with thinking back, “Seems like a lifetime ago.”

“What about your other brothers, Dickie,” Mr. Haly asked, not picking up on Jason’s hesitation.

Dick picked up on it, and squeezed Jason’s knee as he said, “Well, it turns out that last night was both Tim’s and Damian’s first circus. Tim loved it.”

“And Damian?”

“Not so much,” Dick said, “I don’t think even he knew he was scared of clowns until last night.”

Mr. Haly shook his head, “I can’t tell you how many people have made that discovery in our tent over the years. Did he like any of it?”

“He didn’t watch much,” Dick said, “He has very sensitive ears, and loud noises bother him. He spent most of the circus with his face buried in my side. I thought he was forgiving me for the elephant incident. Turns out, he was in pain the whole time.”

Mr. Haly released a breath through his nose, “Well, we can’t please everybody, no matter how hard we try. You don’t hold it against him, do you?”

“Of course not,” Dick said, “He tried it, and he sat through the whole show without complaining. He didn’t even complain after. He just told me calmly that he didn’t like it. When he was younger, if he didn’t like it, he would have disrupted the whole show, and ruined it for everyone in the tent.”

Jason considered the statement, “You’re right, he did handle last night maturely.”

Dick looked at Jason with exaggerated shock on his face, “What’s this? You have something nice to say about Damian?”

Jason smirked at his elder brother, “Don’t worry, I won’t do it again.”

“You like Damian,” Dick said boldly, “Why can’t you just admit it and try to get along with him?”

“You should ask him that,” Jason said, “He pushes me away just as much as I push him away. It’s just our way.”

“None of us like watching your way,” Dick grumbled.

Dick was going to continue his admonition of his brother’s activity when Mr. Haly started to wheeze. Immediately, Dick turned to the old man and found him clutching his chest, breathing heavily, and looking like he was in pain.

“Pop? Pop, are you okay?”

A machine started beeping and a nurse came into the room. “What’s going on, gentlemen?”

Pop Haly started breathing a little easier, “I’m okay. Just a little chest pain.”

“There’s no such thing as a little chest pain in your condition,” the nurse said.

Dick’s jaw started quivering at the comment.

The nurse turned to Dick and Jason and said, “Please wait in the waiting room for a few minutes. The doctor will be right in to check on you, Mr. Haly.”

Dick and Jason left the hospital room and walked into the waiting room. Dick headed over to a window and stared out at the parking lot. Jason headed for a couch to sit down, until he noticed Dick shaking. Jason instead walked up behind Dick and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Dick,” Jason said softly.

Dick turned and buried his face in Jason’s shoulder.

“Just relax, Big Bird,” Jason murmured.

“I forgot, okay?”

“Forgot what,” Jason asked, looking down at the top of Dick’s head.

Dick sniffled, “I was having such a good time talking with Pop and catching up. I forgot why we’re actually here. I forgot that this is the cardiac ICU, and Pop is here because he had a heart attack. Do you know what that means, Jason? His heart stopped. He could have died, and I might have never known that it happened. I never prepared myself for that day.”

Jason took and released a large breath, “Yes, his heart stopped, but it started again. He’ll be fine. He seems like a tough old guy.”

Dick’s breath hitched in his throat, “A tough _old_ guy. He’s eighty-four, Jason. I don’t know what to do.”

Jason shook his head, “There’s nothing you can do, except what you’ve been doing. You came. You’re here, talking to him, spending time with him. You’re providing a little joy in what might be his final days, and, if they aren’t his final days, then you’re taking the time to reconnect with him. This is what you do. You make people happy.”

Jason consented to hug his older brother for as long as Dick needed to settle down. He figured they would be there for a while.

Several minutes later, a man in a white lab coat approached the pair. It took Dick a second to be able to turn and address the man.

“Excuse me, are you Dick Grayson?”

Dick nodded after wiping his eyes, “That’s me.”

“I’m Dr. Hawkins, your grandfather’s cardiologist,” the doctor said, “He asked me to come out here and give you an update. He had a bout of fibrillation. It seems to have corrected itself for now, but we are prepping him for surgery.”

Dick started in shock, “What? Surgery? What for?”

“We’re going to have to install a pacemaker,” Dr. Hawkins said, “It will help control the fibrillation.”

Dick swallowed roughly, “Can I see him before the surgery?”

Dr. Hawkins nodded, “Of course. Come with me.”

Dick and Jason were led back into the room, where nurses were circulating around the bed, getting everything ready to move the man to surgery. Dick didn’t know how to get close without getting in the way. 

“Come here, Dickie,” Mr. Haly called out, a bit feebly for Dick’s taste.

One of the nurses saw the young man and moved out of the way. Dick walked up to the bed and gently held the elderly man’s hand.

“I don’t want to see any more tears on your cheeks, Dickie,” Mr. Haly said, “I’m stronger than this. You just go back to the circus and get some rest. I’ll see you and Steven tomorrow, when the lawyers get here. I promise you; this surgery is nothing.”

“Are you sure, Pop,” Dick asked shakily.

Mr. Haly patted the hand that he held, “I just got you back. I’m not dying anytime soon. Trust me. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Dick leaned down and hugged the man tightly, “I’ll hold you to that, Pop. We’ll be back in the morning.”

“Good, Dickie,” Pop said.

Dr. Hawkins walked into the room, “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time.”

Jason gently pulled Dick out of the way as the bed was rolled out of the room. When they were alone, Jason said softly, “He’ll be fine.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can put up with this,” Dick whispered, “This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

“You’ll put up with it as long as you need to, because you aren’t putting up with it for you. You’re putting up with it for him.”

Dick turned and hugged Jason, “Thanks, Little Brother. Thanks for coming. I couldn’t do this alone.”

Jason leaned back and smirked at Dick, “You know the real reason you brought me, and I’m going to do that for you now.”

Dick looked confused, “What’s that?”

Jason led Dick out of the room and towards the elevator, “Tim wouldn’t think of it, and Damian is too young, so it falls to me. You need a drink.”

_The Next Morning…_

Dick stumbled out of his old trailer late the following morning, rubbing his head as he stretched.

Steven walked up to the man, stopped short, and looked at Dick strangely, “Are you okay?”

Dick shook his head gently, “I was a lot smaller the last time I slept in one of these beds. Smacked my head on the bottom of the upper bunk.”

Steven smiled, “Well, that can happen. Are you ready to go? The lawyers will be at the hospital at noon.”

“What time is it,” Dick asked in a yawn.

Steven checked his watch, “Ten-forty.”

“We can make it with plenty of time to spare if we leave at eleven, right,” Dick asked.

Steven nodded, “That sounds like a plan. How about I drive?”

“That works for me,” Dick said.

Steven walked away, and Tim approached his older brother. “You don’t look so good, Dick. Rough night?”

Dick pulled Tim into a hug and said, “Yeah. Jason was right, I needed yesterday, but the hangover is terrible.”

_Hangover? Did Jason take him out drinking?_ “I’ve got some aspirin in my bag. Come on over, we’ve got some food for you.”

“Bless you, my brother,” Dick said, following Tim to Mr. Haly’s trailer. “Any idea where Damian is? He wasn’t in the trailer when I woke up.”

Tim looked around, “Oh, he’s around here somewhere. He spent most of yesterday with the animals. He’s probably doing that again. You did tell the circus that we are here to help out. They seem very willing to put us to work.”

“Good,” Dick said, “I don’t want us disrupting their lives. It’s a huge imposition for us to be here. We should try to help them out, if we can.”

Dick sat down at the small table and ate breakfast while Tim dug the drugs out of his toiletry bag. Jason slapped Dick on the shoulder and asked, just a little louder than normal, “How’s the head?”

Dick cringed in pain, “Yell in lowercase letters, Jason. This is all your fault. You did this to me.”

Jason set a large bottle of water on the table, and Tim handed over several pills. Dick swallowed both.

Jason nodded at the bottle and said, “You know the cure for a hangover. Finish the rest of that bottle, and get several more while you’re at the hospital. I’ll have more whiskey for you when you get back.”

Dick stared at Jason in shock, “Are you crazy? I’m not doing this again.”

“You’re spending the day with a bunch of lawyers and an ill Mr. Haly,” Jason said, “You’re going to want all the booze we can find.”

“You’re probably right,” Dick grudgingly agreed before pulling several bills out of his wallet, “Why don’t you two go find a grocery store today, and get a couple days’ worth of food for us, and something better than what that bar was pouring last night.”

“You got it,” Jason said.

Steven tapped on the open door and asked, “Ready, Mr. Gr…Dick?”

Dick swallowed the last of his food and took another swig of water before saying, “All set. Let’s get this over with.”

Tim watched Dick and Steven walk over to Steven’s truck before turning back to Jason, “What the hell did you do to him last night?”

Jason released a breath, “You didn’t see him at the hospital yesterday. It was bad. Mr. Haly needed to have an operation to put in a pacemaker. It really scared Dick. He needed something to take his mind off of things. You wouldn’t have taken him to a bar, and the Squirt couldn’t. I did what I had to.”

Tim shook his head, “Dick can’t hold his liquor. You know that. He’s a sloppy, mean, drunk. As the only one of us who drinks, and the one who introduced alcohol to the situation, it’s your job to make sure he doesn’t get out of hand.”

“Yes, _Mom_ ,” Jason said, rolling his eyes.

Tim released a large breath at Jason’s tone, then asked, “You know, I made up an answer when Dick asked, but where is Damian? I haven’t seen him since last night.”

“He came in around seven to use the can,” Jason said, “Haven’t seen him since.”

Tim shrugged, “He’ll show up when he gets hungry, and he’ll be back around six.”

“How do you know that,” Jason asked.

Tim gave a small smile, “Tonight’s show starts at six-thirty. With his reaction to the show we saw, it’s a safe bet that he won’t be watching it. The troupe will be busy with the show, so he’ll have nothing else to do. I told him about the cellphone signal booster last night, so he’ll probably call Robin while the show is going on.”

“Gotta say, I’m surprised,” Jason said.

“Why,” Tim asked.

“The Squirt isn’t acting like himself,” Jason said, “I think I can actually tolerate being around him when he’s like this.”

Tim gave a warm smile, “You don’t know him very well.”

“So, he just acts like an ass for me,” Jason asked.

“He responds to how you act to him,” Tim said, “You don’t want _him_ to act like an ass, then _you_ shouldn’t act like an ass.”

“I’ll think about it,” Jason said.

“Should we hit the grocery store,” Tim asked.

“I saw one on the way back from the hospital,” Jason said, “It’s not far. Let’s go.”

Tim and Jason got into their rental car, and Jason was startled by the knock on the window. He rolled it down to address Damian, who had approached the car when he saw his middle brothers getting ready to leave.

“Where the hell have you been,” Jason asked.

Damian crossed his arms over his chest, “When Dick said we were here to work and help out, I know he wasn’t just talking about me. Are you two planning on doing anything?”

“We’re going to the store, so we aren’t taking these people’s food,” Jason said.

“Did you want to come with,” Tim asked.

“I wanted one of you to help me,” Damian said, “Apparently, there is a lot to get done before the show tonight. Where did Dick go?”

“He and Steven went back to the hospital,” Tim said, “They’re meeting the lawyers there today.”

“Oh, right,” Damian said, releasing a breath, “Well, hurry back. There’s a lot to do that they want our help with.”

Jason rolled his eyes, turned off the SUV, and handed Tim the money Dick had given him, “Here. The store is three miles down the road. You can’t miss it.”

Jason stepped out of the vehicle and asked, “Is there really a lot to do, or are you just too weak and small to do it on your own?”

“Every little bit helps,” Damian said, “Even from someone as helpless as you.”

_Later…_

Tim smiled as Jason walked into the trailer, looking overheated and exhausted.

“I take it that Damian didn’t lie about the amount of work to do,” Tim asked.

Jason drained half of a bottle of water before saying, “There’s no way they do all of this before a show every day.”

“Their schedule has them pulling out of town in a couple days,” Tim said, “There is probably a lot that has to be done to prepare to move on to the next destination. What were you doing?”

Jason sat down heavily, “I was helping stock the Midway. They must go through a lot of prizes before the shows, or sell a lot of pretzels and popcorn, or something. I couldn’t believe how many boxes needed to be moved.”

“Where’s Damian,” Tim asked.

“He’s in the Big Top, watching the acrobats warm up,” Jason said, “I think he wanted to see the trapeze people do their thing, without seeing the show. He said he didn’t see them when we saw the show the other day.”

Tim nodded, “He wants to see what Dick used to do.”

Jason matched the nod, “I get that feeling, too.”

Tim gave a large smile, “Bet you’re wishing you went to the grocery store now.”

“You would still be working to set up the Midway, if you had volunteered to help out, you little weakling.”

“I’m stronger than I look,” Tim said.

“So is Damian,” Jason said grudgingly, “He kept up with me a lot more than I thought he would.”

“All he does is work out,” Tim said, “Pick him up someday, he is pure muscle.”

“Who is pure muscle,” Damian asked, walking into the trailer.

Jason stood in front of Damian, gave him an evil smirk, then lifted the teen into the air.

“What the hell,” Damian exclaimed.

Jason dropped Damian and turned to Tim, “You’re right, he’s pretty solid.”

“Um, what was that all about,” Damian asked, confused.

“Jason was just commenting that he didn’t expect you to be able to keep up with him, when helping set up the circus,” Tim said.

“I would have left him in the dust, but I’ve been working since eight this morning. You got a late start, Todd.”

“Oh, shut up, Squirt.”

“Are you done for the day,” Tim asked.

Damian nodded, “They said everything is ready for the show tonight. I was going to take a shower before the show.”

That surprised Tim, “Are you giving the circus another chance? Dick said you really didn’t like the show.”

Damian shook his head, “No, I just want to get in and out before the rest of you. I’ll stay here during the show.”

Tim winked at Jason, “Told you.”

Damian headed for the door, and Jason said, “Hey, the shower is in here.”

“And my clean clothes are in the other trailer,” Damian said, “I’ll be right back.”

The teen left, and Jason grew an evil smirk, “You know, a shower does sound good right now.”

Tim rolled his eyes, “He’ll pull you out and toss you out of the trailer if you tried getting in there before him.”

_The Next Morning…_

Dick moaned and rubbed his head as he sat up. He was very confused as to his surroundings, and his hangover was even worse than the one yesterday.

“Damian,” Dick asked blearily, “Why am I on the floor? Did I fall out of bed?”

Damian sat up in the bunk and glared harshly at his older brother, “No, I _pushed_ you out of the bed.”

“Why,” Dick asked, trying to stretch the kink out of his back.

“Because I’m not your fiancé,” Damian growled.

“What does that mean?”

Damian sighed roughly, holding the blanket tightly around himself, “You came to bed, drunk off your ass. You laid down and I thought you went to sleep. A couple minutes later, you must have been dreaming, because you started calling me Barbara, and tried to kiss me. I tried waking you up, but you must have been too drunk. You…you started…touching me. Only Robin is allowed to touch me the way you were touching me. You wouldn’t stop, so it was either kick you out of the bed or cut your hands off. It was a close decision, but you ended up on the floor.”

Dick reached out to Damian, who backed away from the outstretched hand, “Damian, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Damian glared down at the hand, “Just don’t touch me. You know enough about my history to know not to do that.”

Dick slowly pulled his hand back, “I’m sorry.”

“Stop drinking,” Damian said, “You only act like this when you’re drunk.”

“This…whole situation is really hard for me, Little D,” Dick said.

Damian looked down, “I know, but you have better coping skills than this. You aren’t Jason. You don’t have to follow his lead.”

“I know,” Dick said, releasing a breath through his nose. He stood up and swayed a bit before saying, “I’m going to go throw up. When I get back, there’s something I want to show you. Will you still be here?”

“Can you show me without touching me,” Damian asked softly, “That…that scared me, last night. I just need some time.”

Dick didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes widened dramatically, and he went running out of the trailer.

Damian sighed as he stood up and changed into day clothes, “I think that’s a yes.”

_Later…_

Damian walked up to Mr. Haly’s trailer to find Tim and Jason sitting outside, watching the world go by.

“What happened to Dick,” Damian asked, “He said he was going to show me something.”

“It’s going to have to wait,” Jason said, “He’s in no condition to show anybody anything.”

“What do you mean,” Damian asked, sticking his head inside the trailer. Dick was laying on the bed, passed out and snoring loudly.

“He came in, puked his guts out, laid down on the bed, and hasn’t moved since,” Jason said.

Damian released a rough breath, “Knowing how he gets when he drinks, he’s not going to remember anything he said or did.”

Tim looked up at Damian in concern and pulled a chair over for the teen to sit down, “Did he do something to you last night?”

Damian took a seat. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Staring at the ground, Damian nodded. “Yeah. I know it was just because he was drunk, and didn’t know what he was doing, but…he started touching me.”

“You don’t usually mind when Dick touches you,” Tim said.

Damian shook his head, “Not like this. He obviously thought I was Barbara. He put his hands in places that only Robin touches.”

“How do you know that he thought you were Barbara,” Jason asked.

“Because he called me Barbara before he tried to kiss me,” Damian muttered.

Jason leaned forward, “You know that wasn’t him, right? I mean, it was him, but not _him_. Dick would never hurt you.”

“He seemed sorry about it when I told him what he did after he woke up,” Damian said, “Since he passed out again, he won’t remember any of it later. That’s just how his mind works when he’s drunk.”

“Are you going to hold it against him,” Tim asked.

Damian couldn’t look up, “I guess not. That’s not what’s concerning me, though.”

Tim wanted to reach out and grab Damian’s hand, but he didn’t know how the gesture would be taken. “What’s bothering you, Damian,” Tim asked softly.

“When…when he…touched me, I…I responded. My body… _responded_.”

Tim and Jason stared at Damian for half a minute before both of their eyes widened as they understood what Damian was trying not to say.

“It doesn’t mean anything, Damian,” Jason said, “It’s natural.”

Tim nodded, “You’re not going to like hearing this, but you’re fifteen years old, Damian. You’re still making your way through puberty. It happens. Right now, your blood is half hemoglobin and half testosterone. Of course, your body is going to respond when someone starts touching you.”

“I don’t want it to happen when a man is touching me,” Damian said, “especially my brother. That’s…wrong.”

“Damian, do you know what the definition of male puberty is,” Tim asked. Damian looked up, and Tim gave him a compassionate smile, “Unintended erections at inopportune moments. Anything can set them off. The wind could be blowing at the right speed and temperature, and you’ll get one. You could be riding in a car, and the pattern of the vibration could strike you right. It’s just something you have to learn to live with. You can’t take it as anything more than a physiological reaction to any number of stimuli. Yes, it happened, and it’s embarrassing. It doesn’t mean that you want to have sex with your brother.”

“You said it yourself,” Jason said, “you know that Dick is going to forget what happened. You need to forget it, too. Put it behind you. That’s the best course of action right now.”

“How bad did it get,” Tim asked in a worried tone.

“I kicked him out of bed,” Damian said.

“I thought you said he was too drunk to realize what he was doing,” Jason said.

Damian gave a small smirk, “I used my foot. He gave a very satisfying thump when he hit the floor.”

“Do you feel better now,” Tim asked.

“We’ll see how I feel when he’s coherent again,” Damian said.

“It better be soon,” Jason said, “He told me, when he got back from the hospital last night, that he and Steven are going to go over the circus’ financial records today.”

“What Herculean tasks are you going to accomplish today, D,” Tim asked.

Damian checked his phone, “Can I at least have breakfast first, before we decide that?”

_Later…_

“I thought you were helping out.”

Damian looked over as Tim walked up and leaned against the fence surrounding the elephant paddock, where Damian had been leaning.

“My official circus member status didn’t grant me admission to the tiger cages,” Damian said.

“Were you volunteering to help feed them, or to be fed to them,” Jason asked, leaning against the fence on Damian’s other side.

“This is only the second time in my life I’ve ever seen a live tiger in person,” Damian said, “I wanted to help. They said they didn’t want to have to explain it to Dick when I showed up for dinner with one hand.”

Tim nodded, “Less things to explain right now would be good, and would help him out a lot.”

Damian looked up at Tim, “What do you mean?”

Jason released a breath, “Dick and Steven just left for the hospital. Dick got a call that Mr. Haly is having some sort of complications. I guess the pacemaker they put in the other day isn’t working how it’s supposed to.”

Damian closed his eyes and sighed, “He’s going to get drunk again tonight, isn’t he?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Jason said.

“Can’t you just throw out the alcohol?”

“I did,” Jason said, “I can’t control anyone else in the circus who might give him some, though.”

“We’ll switch trailers tonight,” Tim said, “Jason will sleep with Dick, and you’ll sleep with me, just in case.”

Damian looked back and forth between his brothers, “Thanks, both of you.”

Tim gave an evil smirk, “It’s been a long time since anyone touched Jason. He could use the lovin’.”

Damian shook his head and said softly, “That’s not funny, Tim.” Damian then grew a smirk, “Even though it is.”

“If he thinks I’m Barbara tonight, I might have to break up with him,” Jason said.

“That’s just mean,” Tim said, “but not unexpected.”

Jason nudged Damian, “So, you wanted to help with the tigers? What were they feeding them?”

“Looked like steaks,” Damian said.

Jason shook his head, “They eat better than we do. They’re feeding the tigers the wrong thing, though. I just so happen to love tigers. I researched them a lot when I was younger, and I think we can find the right food for them around here somewhere.”

Damian looked up curiously, “Tigers aren’t indigenous to Kentucky. Why would their preferred food be here?”

“It lives all over the world; it’s just hard to find,” Jason said, “I bet you’ve never even heard of the right animal.”

“What is it,” Damian asked. Tim was just as curious. He didn’t know that Jason liked tigers.

Jason turned to face the teen fully and said, “What they really like is freshly-caught wild Snipe.”

Damian cocked his head to the left, “Snipe? What’s that?”

Jason crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, “Tim, he’s never heard of Snipe. I thought you loved all of the animals?”

Tim was standing behind Damian, glaring at Jason and shaking his head vigorously, mouthing ‘NO’

Damian looked up at Jason, oblivious to Tim’s attempt to stop the activity, “I _do_ love animals. What is a Snipe? I want to see one. Maybe they’ll let me feed the tigers if we bring them one.”

Tim was now waving his arms, shaking his head, and mouthing, ‘NO, NO, NO!’

Jason snaked an arm around Damian’s shoulders and started heading back towards the trailer, “I can guarantee, if we bag a Snipe, the trainers will be so happy with you. They might let you ride one of the tigers in the show. Giving Snipe to a Tiger is like giving fish to your cat. They’ll love you forever. Come on, let’s prepare for a Snipe Hunt.”

“What do we need to prepare,” Damian asked.

Tim followed the pair, rolling his eyes and wondering how he could get this to end without brotherly bloodshed.

“We just need to find a strong enough bag,” Jason said, “and wait for the proper time.”

“What’s the proper time?”

Jason smiled, amazed that this was working, “Oh, Snipe are nocturnal. They only come out very late at night. We can’t start hunting them until long after the sun goes down.”

Damian nodded, “We ought to be able to find a good bag in Mr. Haly’s trailer. Maybe I can get in a nap before we go? I didn’t sleep too well last night.”

Around eleven, Jason opened the door to Mr. Haly’s trailer to find Damian sitting at the table. “Are you ready to go?”

Damian nodded as he stood up, “Yeah. I’m going to grab my sweatshirt. It’s in the other trailer. Um, is Dick asleep?”

Jason nodded softly, “Yeah. He shouldn’t wake up when you go in. He got pretty drunk today. I guess he and Steven went to a bar after the hospital. They were both pretty depressed when they left the hospital. Steven said Dick was a little less than coherent when they left the bar.”

Damian sighed, “So, he’s going to be pretty bad in the morning.”

“We’ll watch out for it,” Jason said. “Come on, let’s go.”

Damian and Jason left the trailer, and Damian said, “I’ll be right back. Just wait here.”

Damian returned within several seconds with a sweatshirt, then walked back into the trailer, “Forgot the bag.”

Damian closed the door to the trailer behind him after entering the trailer. Jason was having a hard time keeping himself from laughing, until he heard the door lock click into place. The smile quickly slipped from his face as he pulled on the door latch.

“Hey, are you coming?”

Damian cracked open the window and glared at Jason, “Just how stupid do you think I am? Did you really think I’d fall for a Snipe Hunt? Dick pulled this one on me when I was ten. I pulled this on my team last Christmas. Nice try, but the joke’s on you.”

Tim could be heard snickering in the background as Jason blushed slightly. “How is the joke on me? You locked me out of a trailer I wasn’t going to sleep in tonight anyway.”

“Yes, I did,” Damian said, “Good night.”

Jason walked away, shaking his head. _Well, it was worth a shot. He seems to be taking it well, though. I shouldn’t be surprised that Dick played this prank on Damian. Who would have known that Damian would play along so convincingly. I bought it._

Jason pulled on the door knob of the older trailer. It didn’t move. Jason tried again, then remembered that Damian had told him that the joke was on him.

_Why is the door locked? It was unlocked when I left Dick in here…Damian came back for a sweatshirt. He planned this._

Jason walked back to Mr. Haly’s trailer, and wasn’t surprised to find the window still cracked open.

“You locked the door,” Jason said flatly.

“You said you weren’t going to sleep in the trailer tonight,” Damian replied, “You were right.”

“Let me in, it’s getting windy out here.”

“Suffer,” Damian said before closing the window and turning off the light.

“Oh, come on, you little shit,” Jason said, pounding a fist on the door, “It’s cold out here.”

“You were prepared to leave me who knows where all night,” Damian said.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Jason said.

“I accept your apology,” Damian said, “Good night.”

“Open the damn door,” Jason growled.

“Go suck a Snipe,” Damian replied.

Tim could be heard laughing at the reply. Jason shook his head, “Open the door, Replacement.”

Movement could be heard in the trailer, and Damian said, “Don’t open that. Let him stew for a while; see if he’s smart enough to figure it out.”

“Figure what out,” Jason called out.

“The fact that you’re staring at the answer to your problem,” Damian said.

Jason thought for a second, then looked around. The answer to his problem was, in fact, right in front of him. Had Damian not said anything, Jason would have never looked for it, but now that he looked, it was obvious.

A key had been placed on the metal step of the trailer. Jason picked it up and held it in front of the lock. He stopped himself from trying it in the lock though, because that’s exactly what Damian wanted him to do.

Jason’s voice was a bit subdued when he asked, “This goes to the other trailer, right?”

“You did agree that you would sleep there tonight,” Damian said calmly.

Jason let out a slow breath, “Yes, I did. Good night.”

Jason took two steps away from the trailer, and stopped when he heard the door open. He turned around to see Damian standing in the door way.

“Hey, thanks for tonight,” Damian said, “I know what you were trying to do, and it wasn’t to send me on a Snipe Hunt. Thanks for taking my mind off of things.”

Jason gave a soft smile and a nod, “You’re not so bad, when you try to act normal. I’ll see if I can keep Dick’s evil drunk side in check. We’ll see what he does tomorrow. Good night.”

Damian nodded, “Good night. Thank you, Jason.”

_The Next Morning…_

“There you are.”

Damian turned at the sound of the growled voice behind him. It was Dick, but just barely.

_Good God,_ Damian thought, _He’s not hung over. He’s still drunk. Forget about walking a straight line; he couldn’t walk a crooked line without falling over. Well, let’s give it a shot and see if I can get through the alcohol._

“Good morning, Dick.”

Dick wavered on the spot and spoke to the Damian he guessed was the real one, given his double vision. “Good morning, Dick? Is that all you have to say to me? Where have you been?”

Damian pointed over his shoulder, “I was just…”

Dick waved his hand, dismissing the statement he was interrupting, “I don’t want to hear it. I asked you to do one thing when we got here, and you can’t even do that.”

“What did you ask me,” Damian asked, confused.

Dick rolled his eyes hard enough to move his whole head, “The high and mighty Damian Wayne can’t be bothered to worry about helping others. God, why did I even bring you?”

Damian cocked his head, “Are you talking about helping out around the circus?”

Dick leaned down to get in Damian’s face, “YES! These people need our help, and it would do you some good to worry about others for a change. Now, where the hell have you been?”

_He’s drunk. Just take it, Damian. Something obviously happened at the hospital yesterday, and he needs to let off steam._ “I was asking around, to see if anyone needed my help with anything.”

Dick scoffed in his drunken state, “Yeah, right. Sure you were. Of course, you’re going to say you were doing the thing I’m asking you about.”

Damian actually had been asking if anyone needed his help. He got a job lined up for the afternoon, cleaning up the grandstands inside the tent before the show tonight. Damian had just been heading back to the trailer to use the bathroom before starting.

Dick continued his rant, “I should have listened to my gut feeling and left you at home. I haven’t seen you for two days. What the hell were you doing? Moping and hiding, because this isn’t good enough for the great Damian Wayne? Useless! That’s what _you_ are.”

Damian watched the way Dick was swaying on his feet and remembered that Dick probably wouldn’t remember this later. _This is starting to turn bad. I know he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but…I think this is how he really feels about me. Am I that bad of a person?_

The smack of Dick’s palm across Damian’s cheek echoed in Damian’s ears long after the sting left his skin. Damian’s eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head, with as wide as they got. _He didn’t mean it,_ Damian immediately thought, until he looked up into Dick’s eyes and found nothing but scorn being sent his way.

“HEY! I asked you a question,” Dick nearly shouted, “I expect an answer. What the hell have you been doing while I’ve been trying to deal with all of this?”

_While you’ve been trying to drink the circus dry, you mean._ “I w-was h-helping out.”

“SPEAK UP, DAMN IT!”

Damian flinched hard at the shout. _What the hell did I do to deserve this? Am I just the first person he’s seen?_ “I was helping out, like you asked.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Dick said, leaning down to get his face closer to Damian’s, “Don’t you _dare_ lie to me. I’ll- _hic-_ I’ll find out.”

“I’m not lying to you,” Damian said, unable to control the quiver in his voice.

Dick stood up again, wavering precariously in his drunken state, and shook his head, “What was I thinking, bringing you along? Can’t think of anyone but yourself. Can’t go out of your way to help someone out. To help me out. After all I’ve done for you. After all I’ve sacrificed for you over the years.”

“Dick, I’ve…”

Dick lashed out again, striking Damian’s other cheek hard enough to whip Damian’s head to the side, and leave a red mark that would last for the next two hours. “SHUT UP! I’ve had enough. We’ve _all_ had enough. We’ve had enough of _you_! What the hell was Bruce thinking, allowing Talia to leave you with us? Do you have any idea how much better all of our lives would have been, if you’d never shown up? You have no idea. None of us will ever know. God, I WISH YOU’D NEVER BEEN BORN!”

Damian was shaking, trying to control his tears, and failing miserably. Dick shoved Damian into the side of the trailer he was standing next to as he staggered drunkenly away. Damian was frozen to the spot. He knew Dick was a mean drunk, and he knew he told himself to just take it and try to fix things later, but this went too far. This hurt. This rant was things that Damian had initially been sure that Dick would never think.

Now, he wasn’t so sure.

Alcohol has the effect of lowering one’s inhibitions. In Damian’s mind, that meant that Dick had been harboring these feelings about him for years, and just needed enough liquid courage to let them out. It was a sobering, humbling thought, that the one who had helped him the most, had loved him the most, could have possibly resented him this much this whole time.

_Meanwhile…_

Concerned at the sound of Dick shouting, Jason and Tim walked out of Mr. Haly’s trailer and looked in the direction of the noise. They couldn’t make out what Dick was saying, but he was laying into Damian something fierce.

Tim gasped audibly when Dick slapped Damian before pushing him out of the way and stumbling off.

Jason shook his head in shock and mumbled, “What the hell was that all about?”

Tim turned and glared at Jason, “This is all your fault. You’re the one who gave him the alcohol.”

“I got rid of the rest of it,” Jason said.

“Well, he obviously got more somewhere else,” Tim said, “Because Sober Dick would never stagger like that, and he would never slap Damian.”

“No, he wouldn’t,” Jason agreed.

“We have to fix this,” Tim said, “You go track down Dick. He shouldn’t be too hard to find. You hold him somewhere until he sobers up. Sit on him, if you have to. I’ll try to calm Damian down; make sure he isn’t planning some sort of payback.”

“He has to know that Dick didn’t mean any of that,” Jason said, “We talked to him yesterday about how Dick gets when he’s drunk.”

“Go get Dick,” Tim said.

Jason nodded and walked away. Tim eyed his self-appointed task. Damian still stood, leaning against the side of the trailer, where Dick had shoved him. Even from this distance, Tim could see that Damian was sniffling hard and wiping at his eyes. Tim sighed and shook his head as he approached his younger brother.

Tim stopped several feet away, not wanting to crowd Damian, and spoke softly, “Hey, Damian. Do you want to talk about it?”

Damian flinched hard at being addressed. He was unable to lift his head as he gave a short shake of his head.

Tim took a half-step closer, “Why don’t you come with me? We can work this out. You know he didn’t mean it. Jason is going to set him straight, and he’ll apologize, once he sobers up. You know that Dick loves you.”

Damian flinched again at hearing Dick’s name, sniffled hard, then turned and started running.

“Hey, wait!” Tim took off after the scared youth, not realizing that chasing Damian was actually making him run faster. “Damian, I just want to help.”

Damian hopped a fence between the trailers and the Midway and started dodging between stalls and tents. It didn’t take long for Tim to realize that Damian was determined not to be caught, and stopped his pursuit.

“Damian,” Tim yelled out at the boy’s retreating back, “I’ll be here, when you need me.”

The teen didn’t stop.

Tim sighed sadly as he walked back to the trailer. He met up with Jason outside of Mr. Haly’s trailer.

“Where’s the Squirt,” Jason asked.

Tim shook his head, “He’s gone.”

Jason stood up, “What do you mean, he’s gone?”

“I tried talking to him, and he ran off,” Tim said, “He was running through the Midway when I let him go.”

“You let him go,” Jason asked, “Why?”

“Whatever happened between them was enough for Damian to be afraid of the sound of Dick’s name. The last time I saw him flinch like that was when Two-Face broke out of Arkham. If he wanted our help, he would have let me help him.” Tim looked around, then asked, “Where’s Dick?”

Jason shook his head, “It’s bad. I don’t know what he drank, or how much, but he’s going to be out for a while. I found him outside of the other trailer. He passed out before he could get inside, but not before he could piss his pants and puke all over himself. I’m tempted to let him wake up like that, to see just what he’s doing to himself.”

Tim sighed, “If what just happened hadn’t happened, Damian would be the first one to volunteer to help clean him up. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Damian has borne the brunt of Dick’s behaviors. He’s a good brother.”

Jason looked in the direction of the Midway, “Do you think he’ll come back? Dick has never intentionally hit him before.”

Tim thought for a second, “Damian forgave him for breaking his arm when he was undercover. He’ll forgive him for this. It’ll just take a while.”

Jason shook his head, “I wonder what they said to each other.”

_Midnight…_

Tim was awoken as the door to the trailer opened and closed. It was dark, and he didn’t get a good look at the outline of the person entering the trailer. The door to the small bathroom opened and closed without a light being turned on.

_The trailer didn’t shake too much when whoever that is came in. I doubt it’s Jason. I would be surprised if Dick was alert enough to find his way over here to use the bathroom. I wonder how they’re doing? I hope Jason was able to get Dick settled. He needs to find a way to explain hitting Damian, if he even remembers doing it._

The toilet flushed, and the sink ran for longer than Tim thought it should take to wash someone’s hands. The door opened and closed again, and the shadow stood for a second, looking around. The shadow seemed to sigh, then bent down for several seconds. When the shadow stood up again, it was slightly shorter.

_Definitely Damian. I think he took his shoes off. Does that mean he’s staying? Is he ready to talk?_

The shadow of Tim’s younger brother approached the bed and climbed in. He laid down on top of the blanket and turned his back to Tim, lying on his side, facing the wall.

Tim stared at the back of Damian’s head for a minute before whispering, “Thanks for coming back. I really do want to help you. Did you want to talk?”

Damian shook his head, but didn’t say anything.

“I get it,” Tim whispered, “That looked pretty intense earlier. When you want to talk, I’m here.”

Damian took several deep breaths before voicing a barely heard whisper, “How much did you see?”

Tim answered in the same tone, “We saw enough.”

“How much did you hear,” Damian breathed.

Tim shook his head, “Nothing. We heard Dick yelling, but we couldn’t make out what he was saying.”

Damian gave a short nod and wiped at his eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it,” Tim asked.

Damian shook his head again.

“No, you want to talk about it after all, or no, you don’t want to talk?”

Damian shook his head again before pulling his knees up to his chest, curling into as small a ball as he could comfortably make his body.

Tim sighed. _He’s worried about what Dick said, and if we heard it. It must have been bad. He came back, that’s enough for now. We can deal with the rest once they’ve had some time to think and recover._

Tim really wanted to pat Damian’s shoulder, or give him a hug, or something, but he didn’t want the teen to think he was under attack. “When you’re ready, I’ve got two ears that are all yours.”

“Thanks,” Damian breathed before closing his eyes.

_Two Days Later…_

The breathed declaration of gratitude was the last sound Damian made for the next two days. Unsurprisingly, Damian was not in the bed when Tim woke up the following morning, and wasn’t seen by any of the brothers until after noon. Dick, suffering a hangover so bad that Jason didn’t have the heart to try to find a reason for the older man’s actions, left for the hospital with Steven to meet with the lawyers again at ten in the morning.

Dick returned from the hospital barely half an hour before the circus’ final show in town for this stop on their route. He seemed to have no memory of anything that had happened the previous afternoon, and was confused as to why Jason and Tim were uncomfortable around him, and why Damian was suspiciously absent. The middle brothers didn’t want to bring anything up or start anything, and Damian remained silent when around anyone.

Damian had spent the day doing odd jobs silently around the circus, thinking that if he stayed busy, he wouldn’t think about what had happened the day before. It worked for the most part, until Dick showed up and told his brothers that they were going home the following day.

Tim pulled Damian aside and gave him a short pep talk while they were packing their bags. “Hey, you two should take some time to get everything out once we get home. It’ll be okay, whatever happened. If you want us around, we’ll be around. If you want to be alone, you can do that, too. Just…make the first move. He obviously doesn’t think anything happened yesterday. It’s going to be up to you. I know you can do this.”

Damian took a deep breath and released it through his nose before nodding.

Tim eyed the teen, “Still not talking?”

Damian shook his head.

“You’re going to have to talk to Bruce when we get home,” Tim said, “He’ll take one look at you and know something is wrong.”

Damian looked down and gave a short nod.

Tim squeezed Damian’s shoulder, “It’ll all work out. Once Dick isn’t so distracted with the circus, he’ll bend over backwards to make this better.”

Tim and Jason thought it was strange that Dick volunteered to drive the rental car to the airport. Jason usually performed the driving duties when the brothers would go out, but Dick seemed sober enough today. The ride was quiet, and the tension in the car wasn’t coming just from Damian.

The brothers passed through security and were headed for the gate when Dick stopped and addressed his brothers. “Hey, I wanted to talk to all of you for a second, before we get on the plane. I know this has been a difficult week, and I want to thank you all for helping me out. That said, my job isn’t done here.”

“What do you mean,” Jason asked.

Dick took a deep breath, “I’m not going home with you. There’s so much still to do here. The circus is pulling out of town tomorrow morning. The lawyers are still working on the change of ownership. Pop is still in the hospital. If the circus leaves here on schedule, he’ll be all alone. I can’t do that to him. He needs me. The circus needs me.”

“What about everything at home,” Tim asked, “What about your job, and Barbara, and Bruce?”

“I’ll call Bruce and Barbara and settle everything,” Dick said, “The department can run just fine without me for a few more weeks.”

Tim looked over at Damian, thinking, _What about your brothers? You have something that needs to be addressed very soon._ Tim could tell that Damian was biting his cheek, to keep his reaction in check.

_He’s…not coming home,_ Damian thought. _Should we talk now, or wait until he actually does come home? Does he even know that we need to have a serious discussion? Does he still see me as a burden that he wants out of his life, like he said? Am…am I losing a brother?_

Dick didn’t seem to notice the tension in his youngest brother. “I’m sorry to spring this on all of you so suddenly, but it has to be this way. I’m not going to be gone long. I’ll be home as soon as I can, but in the meantime, I want to ask all of you to do a favor for me.”

Dick turned to look at Damian, for the first time in almost two days, “D, could you do me a favor and check in on Barbara for me? Just make sure that she’s doing okay, and that she knows that I love her more than anything.”

Damian gave a wordless nod.

Dick turned and said, “Jay, watch out for Bruce for me, okay? He’s going to need you. Try to be a little nicer to him.”

“Yeah, sure Dick,” Jason said, wondering, like Tim and Damian were, if this was the right time to bring up what was going through all of their minds.

Dick turned and winked at Tim, “Timmy, look out for these two. You know how to handle your brothers. They need you more than they both want to admit. Keep them from killing each other. Make me proud.”

“Of course,” Tim said softly, thinking that Jason and Damian were not the brothers that needed mediation right now.

Dick turned back to Jason and pulled him into a tight hug, “Call me when you get home.”

“I will,” Jason said, returning the hug before accepting the car key from Dick for the car they had left in long-term parking at Gotham City International Airport.

Dick engulfed Tim in a hug and said, “I’m going to miss you guys.”

“Hurry home, okay,” Tim said.

“Just as soon as I figure out everything here,” Dick said.

Dick released Tim and turned to Damian, only to find an empty spot where his youngest brother recently stood. He looked around, wondering where Damian was, and found him stalking away from the small group with purpose. Dick was very confused at the action, and even more confused when Damian all but threw his boarding pass at the gate attendant, turned back for one last look at his brother, and shot a Batman-worthy glare and sneer directly at Dick.

Damian turned on his heel and stomped his way along the jetway without another look back.

**A/N: Well, I told you it would get emotional and angsty before the end. That’s right, I said the end. Feels like there should be more to this story, right? Well, there is, but you don’t get it yet. Remember, I write all of my stories to build off of one another. If you have checked my timeline, and remember that this story is called The Torch, you will see a story called The Torch part 2 listed. This story will be brought to a close, but there are quite a few other things that need to happen first. I said all along that my 2019 timeline is going to deal with some issues. There is so much that I have planned in the upcoming stories that, frankly, I don’t think I’m a good enough writer to get across what I’ve been planning well enough. It always sounds different once it escapes from my head.**

**Yes, I’m very behind on writing these stories. This one is set to take place in March, 2019. That’s why there are none of the current world events portrayed in these stories. I’m wondering just how much I want to include current events in my timeline. A Gotham City COVID outbreak could be interesting, but I really don’t want to write it. So far, I only have one story outline set to take place after the real-world pandemic outbreak. The story I’ve been hinting at, that hasn’t made the timeline yet, has no mention of a virus or civil unrest, due to the nature and setting of the story. I’d really like some feedback on opinions about including our current world-changing events.**

**Thanks for sticking around and reading what I’m putting out. I love to read your comments.**

**Thanks for playing along.**


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